HARDING  of 
ST.TIMOTHY5 


ARTHUR 

STANWOOD 

PIER 


artjwr  ^tamuootj  pier 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S.    (A  Story  for  Boys.) 

Illustrated.  Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 
THE  ANCIENT  GRUDGE.    Crown  8vo,  $1.50. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  COMPANY 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 


"FELLOWS,"  HE  SAID,  "I'D  LIKE  TO   KNOW   IF  YOU  AREN'T  GET- 
TING TIRED  OF  THIS  SECRET  SOCIETY  BUSINESS?"     (Page  178.) 


HARDING 
OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 


BY 


ARTHUR  STANWOOD  PIER 

ATJTHOB  OF 

'BOYS  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S,"  "THE  ANCIENT  GRUDGJC," 
BTC. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

($be  ftitoersi&c  press,  CambdDge 
1906 


COPYRIGHT  1906  BY  ARTHUR  STANWOOD  PIER 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  September  70o6 


Acknowledgment  is  made  to  The  Youth's 
Companion,  in  which  this  story  first  ap- 
peared, under  the  title,  "  Harry  Harding's 
Last  Year." 


2127758 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

"FELLOWS,"  HE  SAID,  "I'D  LIKE  TO  KNOW  IF  YOU 

ARE  N'T  GETTING  TIRED  OF  THIS  SECRET  SOCIETY 

BUSINESS?" (page  178)    Frontispiece 

ONE  OF  TWO  BOYS   .    .    .    ROSE  AND  CAME  FORWARD 
TO  MEET  THEM 8 

"THE  GANG  IS  GOING  TO  THE  PlE  HOUSE  TO-MOR- 
ROW AFTERNOON  TO  DRINK  YOUR  HEALTH*'    .    .    58 

"AND  ALL   THAT   NOBLE,  NOBLE  INSTITUTION,  THE 
CROWN!" 76 

DOCTOR  VINCENT  BRUSHED  PAST   HIM  AND   KNELT 
BESIDE  THE  INJURED  BOY 96 

THERE  WAS  A  PLEASANT  TWINKLE  IN  HIS  EYES     .    .  130 

HARRY,  WITH  HIS  HEART  BEATING  FAST,  .  .  .  LOOKED 
OUT  INTO  THE  ANTECHAPEL 198 

THE  RECTOR  AWAITED  THEM   .    .    ,  .        .  232 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

CHAPTER  I 

riTlHE  master  in  charge  of  the  great  silent 
-*-  schoolroom  touched  a  bell.  Instantly  the 
silence  was  broken  with  a  variety  of  sounds. 
There  was  an  outburst  of  confused  speech,  a 
scraping  of  chairs  and  feet  on  the  wooden 
floor,  a  slamming  together  of  books,  and  a 
banging  of  desk-lids.  For  the  touching  of  the 
bell  signified  that  the  last  study  hour  of  this 
September  afternoon  was  ended. 

The  boys  issuing  from  the  brick  building 
divided  into  two  streams,  which  turned  to 
right  and  left,  moving  up  or  down  the  maple- 
shaded  road  toward  the  two  big  dormitories 
of  St.  Timothy's  School.  Some  of  the  boys 
were  frolicking,  chasing  one  another,  playing 
leap-frog  as  they  went,  out  in  the  middle  of 
the  road ;  but  most  of  them  moved  languidly 
along  the  sidewalk  in  groups  of  three  and 


2        HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

four.  It  had  been  a  half  holiday  ;  they  had 
been  playing  hard  all  the  afternoon,  except 
for  this  one  study  hour,  and  were  tired. 

Harry  Harding  and  Rupert  Ormsby  were 
the  last  to  leave  the  study  building  and  stroll 
toward  the  Upper  School.  Harry's  movements 
were  especially  indolent. 

"What's  your  hurry,  Rupe?"  he  said. 
"  We  have  plenty  of  time." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  bigger  boy,  as  he  slackened 
his  pace.  "  I  suppose  I  won't  get  supper  any 
sooner  for  hurrying,  but  I'm  awfully  hungry." 

"  That 's  what  comes  of  being  such  an  all- 
round  athlete,"  Harry  rejoined,  and  then  he 
added  wistfully,  "  Do  you  think  I  '11  ever  be 
able  to  do  anything  in  athletics,  Rupe  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  should  n't  wonder.  You  showed  up 
pretty  well  in  the  football  practice  to-day.  If 
you  were  n't  so  light.  But  you  can  run  —  and 
I  guess  you  have  plenty  of  sand."  He  smiled 
at  Harry  cheerfully,  but  Harry  seemed  to  be 
in  gloom. 

"  When  you  're  in  the  sixth  form,"  he  said, 
"  and  sort  of  prominent  because  you  once  had 


HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S        3 

a  brother  here  that  everybody  knows  about, 
you  wish  sometimes  you  could  amount  to 
something  yourself." 

"What's  the  matter?"  asked  Rupert. 
"  You  're  head  editor  of  the  '  Mirror '  and 
vice-president  of  the  Pen  and  Ink,  and  gener- 
ally a  great  gun.  What  more  do  you  want  ?  " 

"  Oh,  it  is  n't  that  sort  of  thing  that 
counts,"  replied  Harry.  "It's  athletics.  I'd 
give  anything  to  be  the  sort  of  all-round  fel- 
low my  brother  Clark  was  —  the  sort  you 
are." 

"  Ho  !  brains  beat  muscle  any  day." 

"There's  one  thing,"  Harry  continued, 
"  that  I  am  glad  of,  and  that  is  that  it 's  you 
who  are  the  big  all-round  athlete.  You  '11  be 
president  of  the  athletic  association  and  cap- 
tain of  the  crew,  and  everything  else.  And 
I  'm  mighty  glad  of  it !  " 

"  Thanks ! "  Rupert  laughed.  "  Only  I  'm 
afraid  your  congratulations  are  premature." 

"  Oh,  no  !  You  're  the  only  real  athlete  in 
the  whole  sixth  form.  There  are  two  or 
three  pretty  good  in  the  fifth,  —  like  Sam  Hall 


4        HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

and  Nat  Dennison,  —  but  they  won't  count 
till  next  year.  By  the  way,  Rupert,"  —  he 
spoke  with  a  sudden  embarrassment,  as  if  he 
hardly  knew  how  to  approach  the  subject, — 
"  I  wanted  to  tell  you,  —  I  hope  you  '11  be  glad 
to  know,  —  you  've  been  taken  into  the 
Crown." 

Rupert  stopped  and  leaned  against  the 
fence.  They  were  only  a  hundred  yards  from 
the  Upper  School.  Boys  were  sitting  on  the 
steps  of  the  big  brick  building  or  standing 
about  on  the  grass-plot  in  front,  waiting  for 
the  supper-bell. 

"I'm  sorry,"  Rupert  said.  "I'll  have  to 
decline  it,  Harry." 

"Why?  "  There  was  blank  disappointment 
on  Harry's  face. 

"I  don't  stand  for  the  Crown."  Still  lean- 
ing against  the  fence,  Rupert  reached  out, 
grasped  Harry's  shoulders,  and  shoved  him 
back  and  forth,  gently,  affectionately. 

"  Why  not?  "  There  was  resentful  surprise 
now  in  Harry's  tone. 

"Because,"    said   Rupert,   releasing    him, 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S        5 

"  it 's  a  clique,  and  there  ought  not  to  be  any 
clique  in  a  school  like  this.  You  fellows  in 
the  Crown  think  that  you  're  the  aristocracy ; 
you  flock  by  yourselves  and  manage  things  so 
that  you  run  the  school.  I  'm  not  saying  you 
don't  run  it  pretty  well,  but  I  object  to  the 
system." 

"  The  fellows  in  the  Crown  are  your 
friends  —  the  fellows  you  know  and  like 
best  —  the  best  fellows  in  the  school," 
pleaded  Harry.  "  I  should  think  you  'd  like  to 
join  them." 

"  There ! "  exclaimed  Rupert.  "  Just  as  if 
a  fellow  outside  of  your  society  can't  be  an 
intimate  friend  of  fellows  in  it !  That 's  just 
what  I  object  to." 

"  No,  I  don't  mean  that.  I  don't  think  it 's 
true." 

"  Besides,"  continued  Rupert,  "  I  'm  not  so 
sure  that  you  have  the  best  fellows  in  the 
Crown.  I  don't  believe  Joe  Herrick  's  a  very 
good  sort  of  fellow." 

"  Herrick 's  improved  a  lot  since  he 's  been 
a  member,"  declared  Harry,  "  and  we  want  to 


6        HAEDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

have  the  best  fellows,  don't  we,  when  we  're 
so  anxious  that  you  should  join  us?  " 

Rupert  laughed.  "  You  're  a  persuasive  little 
chap,"  he  said.  "  But  I  'm  sorry.  I  don't  be- 
lieve in  it,  Harry,  and  I  can't  join.  Tell  the 
fellows  how  much  I  appreciate  the  honor  and 
all  that." 

Harry  looked  very  downcast. 

"  They  '11  be  awfully  disappointed,"  he  said. 
"I  guess  my  brother  Clark  never  saw  any 
harm  in  the  Crown.  He  was  president  of  it 
when  he  was  in  school  —  and  I  think  he 's  as 
good  as  there  is." 

"  I  guess  he  is,  too,  from  what  I  've  heard 
of  himj"  Rupert  said  kindly.  "  But  he's  built 
differently  from  me,  that 's  all.  He 's  the  sort 
of  fellow  who  takes  things  as  they  are  and 
makes  the  best  of  them;  and  I  know  his 
going  into  the  Crown  and  using  his  influence 
must  have  done  a  lot  of  good.  But  I  don't 
believe  my  going  in  would  do  me  or  the 
Crown  any  good.  So  I  think  I'll  stay  out- 
side." He  laughed  and  patted  Harry's  shoul- 
der. "We  'd  better  be  going  in  to  supper." 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S        7 

Harry  -was  too  disappointed  to  speak.  Of 
all  the  boys  at  St.  Timothy's,  Rupert  Ormsby 
was  the  one  whom  Harry  had  come  to  like 
best.  He  had  been  attracted  to  Rupert  the 
year  before,  when  the  big  fellow  had  entered 
St.  Timothy's  as  a  "new  kid."  Rupert's 
"  build  "  had  excited  Harry's  admiration,  his 
candid  blue  eyes  and  friendly  smile  had  won 
Harry's  liking.  There  was  a  cheerful,  inde- 
pendent freedom  in  his  manner  toward  every 
one,  old  boys  and  new,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  kindly  consideration  for  whoever  might  be 
his  comrade  —  and  he  seemed  hardly  to  have 
a  choice  of  comrades. 

As  Rupert  and  Harry  approached,  one  of 
two  boys  sitting  on  the  dormitory  steps  rose 
and  came  forward  to  meet  them. 

"  Hello,  Bruce !  "  said  Harry,  and  Rupert 
said,  "Hello,  Watson!" 

Bruce  Watson  linked  his  arm  in  Harry's 
and  walked  with  him  carelessly  up  the  steps, 
past  his  former  companion,  who  stood  to  one 
side  rather  bashfully.  Rupert  nodded  to  this 
thin,  shy  fellow,  and  wondered  why  Watson 


8        HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

should  have  abandoned  him  so  abruptly. 
Watson  had  nothing  special  to  say,  and  when 
he  accompanied  Harry  and  Rupert  inside  and 
sat  with  them  in  the  "  common  room,"  it  seemed 
merely  because  of  a  preference  for  their  soci- 
ety. And  Rupert  knew  that  Francis  Stoddard, 
the  boy  who  remained  outside  on  the  steps, 
had  been  Bruce  Watson's  closest  friend. 

That  evening,  before  they  went  to  bed,  all 
the  fellows  in  the  Crown  were  aware  that 
Rupert  Ormsby  had  declined  their  election. 
Some  of  them,  especially  Joe  Herrick,  were  for 
feeling  insulted,  but  the  general  sentiment  was 
merely  one  of  surprise  and  disappointment. 

"He  simply  does  n't  approve  of  secret  soci- 
eties," Harry  said  gloomily. 

"  It  makes  me  a  good  deal  less  keen  about 
him  for  president,"  said  Joe  Herrick. 

"  Oh,  he 's  the  fellow  for  it."  Harry's  as- 
sured, offhand  declaration  did  not  even  invite 
a  debate,  and  Joe  Herrick  was  silent. 

The  presidency  of  the  athletic  association 
was,  on  the  whole,  the  most  desirable  honorary 
office  in  the  school.  It  was  not  that  it  car- 


By  permission  of  The  Youth's  Companion 
ONE  OF  TWO   BOYS  ROSE  AND  CAME  FORWARD   TO    MEET  THEM 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S        9 

ried  with  it  any  special  power  or  responsibil- 
ity ;  the  only  duty  of  the  incumbent  was  to 
get  himself  up  in  his  best  for  a  public  appear- 
ance on  the  annual  field-day,  and  introduce 
to  the  audience  the  distinguished  guest  of  the 
occasion,  who  was  to  make  a  speech  and  pre- 
sent the  prizes.  But  it  had  become  almost 
traditional  that  the  president  of  the  athletic 
association  should  be  one  of  the  great  athletes 
of  the  school.  And  ever  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Crown,  this  office  —  like  most  of 
the  important  school  offices  —  had  been  held 
by  a  member  of  the  society.  This  year,  be- 
fore electing  him  a  member,  the  Crown  had 
"  slated  "  Rupert  Ormsby  for  the  position. 

The  day  after  Harry's  talk  with  Rupert  was 
a  Sunday.  In  the  afternoon  small  groups  of 
boys  were  assembled  near  the  study  building 
in  the  shade  of  the  maples.  It  was  a  warm 
afternoon  for  the  end  of  September.  All  the 
boys  were  arrayed  in  their  best,  with  patent 
leather  shoes,  and  trousers  handsomely  creased, 
and  large,  beautiful  neckties.  They  were  all 
of  an  age  when  they  took  a  great  deal  of 


10      HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

pains  to  be  well  dressed.  Some  one  had 
brought  into  the  school  the  information  that 
it  was  proper  to  wear  one's  coat  with  the  low- 
est button  fastened.  All  the  boys  were  now  ob- 
serving this  graceful,  negligent  fashion ;  their 
coats  were  drawn  snugly  about  their  waists 
and  bulged  comfortably  about  their  chests. 

A  tall  master  with  a  brown  mustache  and 
eye-glasses,  almost  as  well  dressed  as  any  of 
the  boys,  and  resting  his  hip  on  a  cane,  stood 
by  the  doorway. 

Now  and  then  a  group  of  boys  would  stroll 
toward  him  and  touch  their  hats ;  one  of  them 
would  say,  "  Bounds,  please,  sir  ?  "  and  he 
would  answer,  "  Yes,  Nelson,"  or,  "  All  right, 
Jones."  That  meant  that  they  were  free  to 
walk  out  into  the  country  beyond  the  school 
limits. 

Harry  Harding  stepped  out  on  the  lawn 
in  front  of  the  chapel  and  began  throwing  a 
tennis-ball  back  and  forth  with  Joe  Herrick, 
just  as  if  it  were  not  Sunday.  The  master 
looked  up  and  saw  him. 

"  Harding !  Herrick !  "  called   the   master, 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      11 

frowning  and  shaking  his  head.  "  Must  n't  do 
that  there." 

"  May  we  do  it  on  the  ice,  sir  ?  "  Harry 
asked  earnestly,  and  the  boys  laughed. 

"  You  have  a  foolish  wit,  Harding,"  the 
master  said,  with  an  indulgent  smile ;  and 
because  he  was  indulgent  he  had  to  reprove 
Harry  and  Herrick  a  moment  later  for  again 
throwing  the  ball. 

Gradually  the  boys  scattered,  some  of  them 
going  up  over  the  hill,  on  which  stood  the  red 
brick  house  of  one  of  the  masters,  the  others 
walking  down  the  slope  toward  the  mill-pond. 

Francis  Stoddard  and  Bruce  Watson  had 
been  sitting  together  on  the  fence,  and  Ru- 
pert Ormsby  had  been  sitting  near  them  with 
two  fifth  formers.  Suddenly  Bruce  slipped 
down  to  the  ground,  and  said :  — 

"  Well,  so  long,  Frank !  Harry  Harding 
and  Joe  Herrick  and  I  are  going  for  a  walk," 
and  he  turned  and  called, "  Coming,  Harry  ?  " 

The  three  went  off  together  up  the  road. 

Rupert  after  a  moment  called  out,  "  Don't 
be  so  exclusive,  Stoddard !  Come  over  here ! " 


12      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

With  a  shy,  grateful  smile,  Stoddard  got 
down  from  his  perch  and  joined  Rupert  and 
the  fifth  formers,  Hall  and  Dennison.  He  did 
not  know  either  of  them  particularly  well,  and 
pretty  soon  Hall  said,  "  Denny  and  I  were 
thinking  of  taking  a  walk.  Won't  you  fellows 
come  along  ?  " 

Stoddard  was  relieved  when  Rupert  an- 
swered for  him,  "  Oh,  I  think  we  '11  sit  here 
awhile  and  be  lazy." 

When  the  others  had  departed,  he  turned 
to  Stoddard  and  said  :  — 

"  What 's  the  matter  with  Bruce  Watson 
these  days  ?  " 

Stoddard  flushed.  "  Why,  nothing,  I  guess. 
Why?" 

"  You  and  he  used  to  be  as  thick  as  thieves," 
said  Rupert.  He  glanced  at  Stoddard  with  a 
friendly  smile.  "  You  're  right  to  keep  up  the 
bluff.  Let 's  you  and  me  take  a  walk  —  and 
talk  things  over." 

They  went  off  in  the  direction  opposite  to 
that  which  Harry  Harding  and  Joe  Herrick 
and  Bruce  Watson  had  taken.  They  walked 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      13 

down  by  the  mill-pond,  and  round  that  off 
into  the  woods,  and  came  out  upon  the  road 
half  a  mile  behind  the  school.  For  some  time 
neither  of  them  spoke.  At  last  Rupert  said 
abruptly :  — 

"  Did  you  know  that  Bruce  has  been  taken 
into  the  Crown  ?  " 

"  No,"  Stoddard  answered ;  and  he  added, 
"  I  don't  know  much  about  the  Crown." 

"  That 's  all  that 's  the  matter  with  Bruce," 
continued  Rupert.  "  He  's  just  been  taken  in 
—  and  of  course  he  has  to  be  very  intimate 
with  the  Crown  fellows  all  at  once.  That  was 
why  last  night  he  had  to  rush  up  and  stick 
his  arm  in  Harry's  and  walk  off  with  him. 
And  this  afternoon  he  had  to  go  with  Harry 
and  the  rest  to  the  regular  Sunday  meeting 
of  the  Crown  —  up  at  their  sacred  rock,  you 
know.  If  you  feel  he 's  sort  of  —  sort  of  going 
back  on  you,  don't  be  troubled.  Just  put 
it  down  to  his  young  enthusiasm  for  his  new 
friends." 

"I  was  feeling  rather  badly  about  it," 
Stoddard  acknowledged.  "  You  see,  Bruce  is 


14      HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

about  the  only  fellow  I  Ve  been  intimate  with 
here.  I  don't  know  why  he  should  have  gone 
about  with  me  so  much  when  he  's  such  a 
popular  fellow  himself ;  but  he  did,  and  I 
liked  him  better  than  any  one  else.  The  last 
few  days,  though,  he's  been  different  some- 
how—  and  I  was  feeling  kind  of  unhappy 
about  it.  I  suppose,"  Stoddard  added,  tim- 
idly, "  you  're  in  the  Crown  ?  " 

Rupert  shook  his  head. 

"  Oh,  I  didn't  know  —  I  'm  sorry  —  I  sup- 
posed you  were  in  everything,"  Stoddard  said, 
in  embarrassment. 

"  I  'm  not  in  the  Crown,  anyway, "  Rupert 
assured  him. 

"  Of  course  when  a  fellow  gets  into  that, 
it 's  natural  he  should  n't  care  any  longer  for 
fellows  outside,"  Stoddard  remarked,  with 
resignation.  "  The  Crown  must  have  such  an 
awfully  good  time  among  themselves — always 
doing  things  together  that  nobody  else  knows 
about  and  having  all  sorts  of  private  little 
jokes  and  things.  Of  course  a  fellow  in  the 
Crown  can't  be  intimate  any  more  with  an 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      15 

outsider,  no  matter  how  much  he  may  like 
him." 

"I  think  that's  true,"  Rupert  admitted. 
"  But  you  'd  better  not  feel  badly  about  that." 

"Well,"  said  Stoddard,  "I  suppose  a  fel- 
low can't  help  being  a  little  more  lonely." 

"  Oh,  I  refuse  to  be  lonely,"  declared  Ru- 
pert. 

"  It 's  different.  You're  in  so  many  things. 
I  don't  see  why  you  're  not  in  the  Crown," 
said  Stoddard  innocently.  "  Of  course  you  're 
never  lonely." 

"  I  tell  you  what  we  '11  do !  "  Rupert  ex- 
claimed, after  they  had  walked  on  a  little 
while.  They  were  making  a  circuit  back  to- 
ward the  school.  "  We  '11  get  up  a  burlesque 
society  of  our  own,  just  you  and  I.  We  two 
will  be  the  charter  members,  and  it  will  be 
very  secret  and  exclusive,  and  it  won't  do  a 
thing  —  except  have  a  name  and  a  burlesque 
society  pin  that  we  '11  be  very  mysterious  about. 
We  '11  elect  other  members,  perhaps,  and  you  '11 
soon  find  you  won't  be  feeling  lonely.  Of 
course  if  we  find  our  burlesque  is  making  any 


16      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

hard  feeling,  we'll  give  it  up;  but  I  don't 
believe  it  will.  What  do  you  say?  " 

"  Oh,  I  think  it  would  be  fun,"  said  Stod- 
dard.  His  eyes  were  shining  at  the  thought. 
"Thank  you  for  wanting  me  to  be  the  other 
member." 

"  I  '11  see  about  getting  half  a  dozen  cheap 
pins,"  said  Rupert,  "  and  we  '11  have  to  think 
up  a  name  for  it." 

They  walked  on,  talking  about  this,  Stod- 
dard  never  suspecting  all  the  kindness  that 
had  inspired  the  idea.  Rupert  had  proposed 
it  with  the  thought  that  it  might  relieve  the 
lonely  boy  's  sense  of  desertion ;  it  was  a  way 
of  stepping  into  Bruce  Watson's  place. 

Meanwhile  the  members  of  the  Crown  had, 
as  Rupert  had  guessed,  made  off  to  their  Sun- 
day afternoon  rendezvous.  It  was  the  absurd 
theory  that,  sauntering  away  in  detachments, 
they  excited  no  suspicion  of  their  real  pur- 
pose. When  Harry  Harding  and  Joe  Herrick 
and  Bruce  Watson,  who  were  the  last  to 
start,  came  up  over  the  brow  of  the  hill  be- 
yond the  school,  they  found  their  comrades 


HARDING   OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S      17 

sitting  in  line  on  the  stone  wall  by  the  road- 
side. Then  they  all  slipped  down  and  marched 
together  along  the  road.  There  were  fifteen 
of  them,  and  each  one  wore  above  the  watch- 
pocket  of  his  waistcoat  a  gold  pin  — a  min- 
iature crown. 

They  turned  in  at  a  path  through  a  field. 
Crossing  this  field  and  climbing  over  the  stone 
wall  at  the  farther  side,  they  came  down 
into  a  hollow  in  which  rose  an  enormous  gran- 
ite rock.  Here  they  seated  themselves,  out 
of  sight  from  any  one  passing  by  on  the 
road. 

"The  meeting  will  come  to  order,"  said 
Harry,  rapping  on  the  rock  with  a  stick. 
"  The  chief  business  to-day  is  to  decide  whom 
we  '11  put  up  for  president  of  the  athletic 
association.  I  guess  we  're  all  pretty  well 
agreed  that  Rupert  Ormsby  's  the  man  for  it." 

"  I  'm  not  so  sure,"  said  Herrick. 

"  Who  else  is  there  ?  "  Harry  asked. 

"  Well,  there  are  plenty  of  others.  Any- 
way, I  don't  see  why  the  Crown  should  put 
up  somebody  who  's  refused  to  be  a  mem- 


18      HARDING  OF   ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

ber.  If  a  fellow  is  n't  with  us  when  he  can 
be,  he 's  against  us,  and  I  don't  see  why  we 
should  be  represented  by  such  a  fellow  or  do 
anything  to  help  his  election." 

"  But  if  he 's  the  best  man  for  the  place  "  — 
struck  in  Harry. 

"  Any  man 's  all  right  for  the  place  —  if  he 's 
a  good  fellow  and  popular  with  the  school, 
and  interested  enough  in  athletics  not  to  seem 
absurd  in  such  a  position.  What  I  say  is  that 
now  the  Crown  can't  afford  to  elect  Rupert 
Ormsby.  The  only  way  we  can  keep  our  pres- 
tige with  the  school  is  by  keeping  all  the 
honors  in  the  Crown.  We  've  always  had  the 
presidency;  we've  got  to  have  it  this  year 
just  as  usual." 

There  was  an  interval  of  silence  after  this 
speech;  the  boys  looked  impressed.  Harry, 
in  his  zeal  to  save  the  situation  for  Rupert, 
adopted  a  weak  argument  —  one  that  was  a 
direct  challenge  to  the  pride  of  the  society. 

"  There  's  nobody  in  our  crowd  we  could 
elect  over  Rupert,"  he  said. 

"  Oh,  I  guess  there  is,"  declared  Tom  Albree. 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      19 

And  then  Frank  Windsor,  who  was  Harry's 
roommate,  spoke  up  :  — 

"  What 's  the  matter  with  Harry  ?  I  bet  we 
could  elect  him  ! " 

There  was  a  general  murmur  of  applause  at 
this,  and  Harry  turned  red  and  laughed.  "  Oh, 
talk  sense,"  he  urged.  "  Who  is  there  that 
can  stand  the  least  show  against  Rupert  Orms- 
by?" 

"That's  all  right,"  Frank  Windsor  per- 
sisted. "  I  'm  talking  sense." 

"  Harry 's  about  the  most  popular  fellow  in 
the  school,"  said  Bruce  Watson. 

"Yes.  And  it  makes  no  difference  if  he 
is  n't  a  great  athlete.  It 's  popularity  that 
counts." 

"  He  '11  make  a  good  deal  better  speech  than 
Rupert  Ormsby  would." 

"  He  '11  be  on  one  of  the  club  football-teams 
if  he  is  n't  on  the  school  team  —  and  that 's 
athlete  enough,  really." 

"  Oh  rot !  "  Harry,  blushing  furiously,  in- 
terrupted this  confused,  many-voiced  recital 
of  his  qualifications.  "  You  all  know  as  well 


20      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

as  I  do  that  the  place  belongs  to  the  best 
athlete  "  — 

"  It  belongs  to  the  fellow  that  the  school 
wants  to  give  it  to,"  cut  in  Frank  Windsor. 

"  If  the  Crown  nominated  Rupert  Ormsby 
the  school  would  want  him  all  right,"  insisted 
Harry. 

"  Yes,  but  the  Crown  won't  nominate  Ru- 
pert Ormsby !  "  said  Joe  Herrick,  in  a  tone  of 
triumph. 

"  It 's  kind  of  an  embarrassing  position  for 
you,  Harry,  having  to  put  the  question  of 
your  own  nomination,"  Frank  Windsor  said. 
"  You  'd  better  let  me  take  the  chair,  and  we  '11 
rush  you  right  through." 

"  Yes,  give  it  up,  Harry.  Go  ahead,  Frank, 
put  it  through  !  "  the  boys  urged. 

"  No,  hold  on ! "  Harry  pleaded ;  but  they 
drowned  him  out,  crying :  — 

"Go  ahead,  Frank!" 

Frank  Windsor  rose  to  his  feet.  "  All  those 
in  favor  of  Harry  Harding  as  the  Crown's 
candidate  for  president  of  the  athletic  associa- 
tion please  say  l  Aye.' ' 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      21 

There  was  a  loud  response. 

"  Contrary  minded,  '  No.' ' 

A  faint  "  No  ! "  issued  from  Harry,  and 
provoked  a  laugh. 

"  It  is  a  vote." 

Then  they  all  jumped  up,  crowded  round 
Harry,  and  shook  hands  with  him  and  slapped 
him  on  the  back.  He  could  not  help  feeling 
gratified  at  such  a  demonstration  of  affection. 
And  they  all  told  him  how  right  it  was  that 
he  should  have  the  place.  He  would  simply 
be  following  in  his  brother  Clark's  footsteps. 
They  told  him  that  they  guessed  it  ran  in 
the  family  to  be  popular.  Their  satisfaction 
was  so  convincing  and  genuine  that  he  could 
not  feel  really  unhappy  at  having  the  honor 
thrust  upon  him. 

The  Crown  discussed  plans  of  campaign 
until  the  quarter-bell,  sounding  for  the  Sunday 
afternoon  sacred  studies,  summoned  them  from 
their  retreat.  By  that  time  each  member  had 
in  his  pocket  a  list  of  six  boys  whom  he  had 
promised  to  interview,  and  if  possible  persuade. 
As  the  meeting  for  election  was  not  to  be  held 


22      HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

for  a  week,  there  was  plenty  of  time  in  which 
to  influence  doubtful  voters. 

When  the  boys  recrossed  the  field  and  came 
out  into  the  road,  Rupert  Ormsby  and  Francis 
Stoddard  were  just  passing.  Stoddard  dropped 
his  eyes  bashfully.  Rupert  waved  his  hand, 
called  out,  "Hello,  fellows ! "  and  hurried  on. 

At  sight  of  Rupert,  Harry's  elation  was 
momentarily  subdued.  The  thought  that  he 
was  pledged  to  win  an  honor  which  he  did  not 
merit  and  which  a  friend  deserved  smote 
sharply  upon  his  sense  of  friendship  and  jus- 
tice. 

But  Rupert  swung  out  of  sight  round  a 
bend  in  the  road  ;  the  other  boys  kept  tossing 
jokes  and  compliments  at  Harry  and  calling 
one  another  to  witness  his  blushes;  then  they 
began  to  push  him  about  with  affectionate 
roughness ;  and  pretty  soon  he  had  dismissed 
the  compunctions  pricking  his  conscience  and 
fallen  back  on  the  comfortable  feeling  that  he 
had  done  his  best,  and  that  if  all  the  fellows 
insisted  on  electing  him  it  would  not  be  his 
fault. 


CHAPTER  H 

THE  campaign  to  elect  Harry  president  of 
the  athletic  association  was  quiet  but  in- 
dustrious. If  a  boy  found  himself  walking 
with  a  member  of  the  Crown,  it  was  surpris- 
ing how  soon  the  conversation  would  turn  to 
a  discussion  of  candidates.  The  Crown  adher- 
ent would  ask  his  companion,  quite  deferen- 
tially, what  he  thought;  and  if  the  boy 
expressed  the  usual  mistaken  preference  for 
Rupert  Ormsby  the  Crown  man  would  concede 
all  Rupert's  good  qualities,  but  would  say  that 
in  spite  of  them  Harry  Harding  seemed  to 
him  the  best  fellow  for  the  place. 

If  he  was  a  skillful  campaigner,  he  would 
enlarge  upon  Harry's  excellent  qualifications 
without  at  all  detracting  from  Rupert's  until 
the  last,  when  he  had  perhaps  got  his  friend 
into  an  agreeable  and  receptive  state.  By 
that  time  it  would  be  safe,  even  while  admit- 
ting Rupert's  virtues,  to  be  a  little  skeptical. 


24      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

As  an  athlete  Rupert  was  of  course  all  very 
well,  but  were  there  not  other  things  to  be 
considered  ? 

Would  not  Harry  be  sure  to  make  a  much 
better  speech  and  say  the  most  graceful  thing 
in  the  most  graceful  way  ?  After  all,  Harry 
had  plenty  of  interest  in  athletics,  and  played 
games  pretty  well,  considering  his  lack  of 
weight.  He  was  just  as  good  a  fellow  as 
Rupert  —  better,  maybe  ;  he  was  certainly 
brighter,  and  then  his  brother  Clark  had  been 
such  a  splendid  person  — president  of  the  ath- 
letic association  and  everything  else.  It  would 
be  rather  a  pleasant  thing  to  let  Harry  fill  his 
brother's  place. 

That  was  the  line  of  argument  which  Harry's 
friends  adopted,  and  along  which  they  worked 
with  more  or  less  subtlety.  At  the  outset,  as 
they  well  knew,  the  odds  were  against  them. 
It  was  difficult  to  demonstrate  to  the  unpreju- 
diced that  Harry  Harding  had  better  claims 
to  an  athletic  presidency  than  Rupert  Ormsby. 
But  the  Crown  expected  by  organized  and 
consistent  effort  to  overcome  this  difficulty. 


HAKDING  OF   ST.  TIMOTHY'S      25 

Rupert  was  conducting  no  campaign  ;  he  was 
simply  favored  at  the  outset  by  general  senti- 
ment. 

The  fellows  in  the  Crown  were  most  of  them 
popular  throughout  the  school,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  they  kept  pretty  much  to 
themselves.  Therefore  when  an  obscure  and 
usually  neglected  boy  found  one  of  these  busy, 
popular  persons  walking  with  him,  or  waving 
an  informal  hand  with  unaccustomed  familiar- 
ity and  joining  him  in  preference  to  some 
more  intimate  companion,  he  thought  that  it 
was  pleasant  and  added  to  the  cheerfulness  of 
life.  He  listened  then  with  a  sympathetic  in- 
terest to  this  experienced  person's  confidential 
opinions,  and  naturally  made  an  effort  to  share 
them. 

In  such  circumstances  an  attempt  to  enlist 
his  support  for  some  less  attractive  candidate 
than  Harry  might  have  succeeded.  As  it 
was,  the  boy  was  usually  willing  to  make  some 
concession  of  opinion  in  Harry's  favor.  For 
Harry  had  the  widest  and  most  varied  acquaint- 
ance of  all  the  boys  in  the  school.  As  editor 


26      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

of  the  school  paper  and  president  of  the  literary 
society  and  head  scholar  of  his  class,  he  was 
in  touch  with  the  quiet,  studious  boys ;  as  a 
cheerful,  humorous,  and  occasionally  mischief- 
making  youth,  he  was  always  welcome  in  a 
gathering  of  the  irresponsible  and  idle ;  as  an 
enthusiastic  and  emulous  admirer  of  the  ath- 
letes, he  was  liked  by  them. 

So  the  reports  which  his  friends  brought 
him  grew  steadily  more  favorable ;  and  as  the 
time  for  the  election  drew  near  Harry  grew 
insensibly  more  covetous  of  the  honor. 

The  conscientious  reluctance  which  he  had 
had  when  his  friends  had  first  proposed  to 
make  him  a  candidate  had  quite  vanished. 
He  had  put  down  the  uncomfortable  feeling 
that  his  election  would  be  absurd  and  gro- 
tesque, and  an  injustice  to  some  one  else.  He 
set  his  imagination  on  that  day  in  June 
when,  after  the  last  race  had  been  run  and  the 
prizes  had  been  brought  out  in  front  of  the 
spectators'  stand,  he  would  step  forward  with 
a  great  red  badge  on  his  breast  and  intro- 
duce some  famous  man — a  senator  or  a  cab- 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      27 

inet  officer,  or  it  might  even  be  the  President 
of  the  United  States  himself!  For  the  Pre- 
sident was  a  college  friend  of  the  rector's, 
and  had  promised  to  visit  the  school  some 
time  during  the  year  and  address  the  boys. 
There  could  not  be  a  more  likely  occasion 
than  on  that  of  the  great  school  field-day;  and 
Harry  dreamed  of  the  honor  of  standing  up 
before  all  the  school  and  the  visitors  and  in- 
troducing the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  them.  Harry's  brother  and  mother  would 
be  in  that  audience,  and  would  they  not  be 
proud  of  him  ?  Would  not  the  other  boys  and 
the  parents  and  the  sisters  of  the  other  boys 
admire  him  and  envy  him  ?  Even  if  it  was  not 
the  President,  but  only  a  senator  or  a  cab- 
inet officer !  When  Harry  let  himself  think 
of  this  occasion  and  all  that  it  would  mean 
to  him,  his  hands  grew  cold  with  excitement 
and  a  sort  of  delicious  fright,  and  his  lips 
parted  in  a  happy,  dreamy  smile,  which  any- 
body noticing  it  would  have  thought  the 
most  winning  expression  of  a  gentle,  unself- 
ish character. 


28      HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

Well,  his  thoughts  at  those  moments  were  in 
a  way  tender  and  unselfish,  for  perhaps  the 
pleasantest  one  of  all  was  that  about  his 
mother  and  Clark.  He  would  be  glad  to  make 
Clark  proud  of  him.  For  it  was  through  Clark 
that  he  was  having  this  last  year  at  St.  Tim- 
othy's and  the  chance  to  enjoy  such  honors. 
His  mother  could  not  have  afforded  to  send 
him  back;  but  Clark,  traveling  round  the 
world  as  tutor  to  Archer  Sands,  who  had 
overworked  at  school,  was  supplying  the 
funds  at  a  personal  sacrifice.  He  would  be 
back  the  first  of  June.  It  would  make  him 
proud  then  to  see  how  splendidly  his  sacrifice 
had  been  repaid. 

In  a  matter  of  so  much  personal  impor- 
tance, Harry  did  not  stop  to  wonder  if  Ru- 
pert had  dreams  and  ambitions,  too.  If  he  had 
thought  about  it  at  all,  he  would  probably 
have  decided  that  Rupert  was  too  unimagina- 
tive to  take  any  delight  in  the  possibilities 
which  the  election  would  mean. 

Francis  Stoddard  was  made  aware  of  the 
acti vity  on  Harry  Harding' s  behalf.  One  after- 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      29 

noon  Stoddard  had  been  at  the  playgrounds 
watching  the  football  practice  with  most  of 
the  school.  Bruce  Watson,  who  had  been 
looking  on  with  Albree  and  Stearns,  came  up 
and  joined  him.  When  the  practice  was  over, 
Albree  called  out,  "  Coming  up  to  the  school 
with  us,  Bruce?"  and  Watson  answered:  — 

"  No,  I  'm  going  to  wait  and  walk  up  with 
Frank." 

Stoddard  was  very  much  pleased — quite 
touched,  in  fact.  Bruce  had  not  shown  any 
interest  in  him  before  for  a  good  while,  and 
this  looked  like  a  willingness  to  resume  the 
former  intimacy. 

They  walked  up  to  the  school  together, 
Bruce  with  his  arm  laid  affectionately  across 
Stoddard' s  shoulders.  And  after  a  time,  in 
the  most  natural  way  in  the  world,  Bruce 
was  expressing  the  idea  that  Harry  Harding 
would  be  a  mighty  good  president  of  the 
athletic  association,  and  asking  Stoddard  to 
vote  for  him. 

"  Oh,  but,  Bruce,  Rupert  Ormsby  's  the 
fellow  for  it ! "  Stoddard  cried. 


30      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"No,  I  really  don't  think  so,"  Bruce  said, 
and  then  he  entered  carefully  upon  the  stock 
arguments  of  the  Crown.  They  had  no  effect 
upon  Stoddard.  At  the  schoolroom  Bruce 
parted  from  his  friend  good-naturedly. 

"  Well,  you  'd  better  think  it  over,  Frank," 
he  urged. 

Stoddard  lived  rather  out  of  the  school 
world,  and  a  good  many  things  went  on  of 
which  he  knew  nothing.  The  day  after  his 
friendly  little  walk  with  Bruce,  however,  Nat 
Belmont  opened  his  eyes.  Nat  Belmont  was 
shrewd  and  rather  sharp-tongued,  and  took 
the  cynical  interest  of  an  observing  outsider 
in  the  doings  of  the  Crown.  He  admired  Ru- 
pert Ormsby,  and  having  noticed  the  increas- 
ing friendship  between  Ormsby  and  Stoddard, 
he  came  up  to  Stoddard  before  dinner  one  day, 
and  said :  — 

"It  looks  as  if  the  Crown  was  going  to  lick 
Rupert  for  president." 

"How  do  you  mean?"  asked  Stoddard. 

"Why,  don't  you  know?  They're  going 
round,  buttonholing  everybody  and  asking 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      31 

every  one  to  vote  for  Harry  Harding.  Has  n't 
Watson  or  some  one  tried  it  on  you?" 

The  blood  rushed  to  Stoddard's  face.  So 
that  was  why  his  old  friend  had  walked  with 
him  so  affectionately  the  day  before  —  merely 
to  make  use  of  him. 

"  I  did  n't  know  about  it,"  he  said. 

"  Well,  it 's  so.  If  you  can  do  anything  to 
help  Rupert's  chances,  you  'd  better." 

Do  anything !  Stoddard  wished  he  could. 
But  no  one  knew  better  than  himself  that  he 
had  no  influence  in  the  school.  He  had  never 
done  anything  to  compel  respect  other  than 
that  half-contemptuous  kind  which  boys  have 
for  a  capacity  to  get  good  marks  and  avoid 
bad  ones.  If  he  undertook  to  do  any  election- 
eering for  Rupert  he  knew  he  would  be  re- 
garded as  a  busybody,  and  those  to  whom  he 
made  his  appeal  would  be  more  likely  than 
not  to  think  he  was  hurting  his  candidate's 
chances. 

But  he  was  indignant  over  what  he  regarded 
as  a  conspiracy  against  Rupert,  indignant  and 
grieved  at  Bruce  Watson's  duplicity.  And 


32      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

with  his  indignation  hot  upon  him,  he  went 
straight  to  Rupert. 

"  There 's  something  I  think  you  ought  to 
know,"  he  said.  "  I  've  just  found  out  that  the 
Crown  fellows  are  all  going  round  trying  to 
get  Harry  Harding  elected  president  of  the 
athletic  association." 

"  Yes,"  said  Rupert,  rather  amused  by  the 
boy's  indignation,  "  I  've  known  that.  Harry 's 
not  much  of  an  athlete,  but  he 's  a  good  fellow, 
and  he  '11  be  all  right  for  president." 

"  It  is  n't  fair ! "  cried  Stoddard.  "  You  're 
the  only  fellow  in  the  school  that  anybody 
ever  thought  of.  And  now  a  whole  gang  is 
going  round,  using  their  influence  to  defeat 
you." 

"  Well,"  said  Rupert,  "  why  should  n't  they, 
if  they  want  Harry  for  president  and  don't 
want  me  ?  As  far  as  I  'm  concerned,  he 's  en- 
tirely welcome  to  it.  Personally,  I  would  n't 
lift  my  finger  to  be  elected." 

"  But  you  ought  to  be,"  insisted  Stoddard. 

"  Oh,  well,"  Rupert  laughed,  "  it  does  n't 
matter.  There 's  nothing  to  the  office.  If  there 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      33 

were  anything  to  it  I  might  get  more  stirred 
up.  But  it's  just  an  empty  honor.  I  don't 
care." 

Stoddard  looked  at  him  with  such  keen  dis- 
appointment that  again  Rupert  laughed.  Then 
he  put  his  hand  on  the  boy's  shoulder. 

"  It 's  good  of  you,  anyway,  to  take  such  an 
interest  and  want  to  help,"  he  said.  "  Thank 
you,  Francis." 

"  I  don't  care  !  I  don't  believe  they  can 
beat  you  !  If  there 's  anything  I  can  do  "  — 
Stoddard's  emotions  were  too  stirred  to  permit 
him  to  continue.  "  I  'm  going  to  speak  to  every 
one  I  know,"  he  added,  after  a  moment, 
"  though  I  don't  know  many." 

"  Well,  don't  make  yourself  unpopular  on 
my  account.  By  the  way,  I  ordered  those 
pins,  —  for  that  exclusive  society  of  ours, 
—  and  they  were  to  be  here  this  afternoon. 
Don't  you  want  to  walk  down  to  the  express 
office  with  me  and  see  if  they  've  come  ?  " 

They  had  come ;  and  in  the  basement  of  the 
study  building,  where  the  express  office  was 
situated,  Rupert  opened  the  little  package. 


34      HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

«  There,  what  do  you  think  of  that?"  he 
asked,  with  a  grin. 

It  was  not  an  elaborate  or  even  an  orna- 
mental pin  —  merely  the  two  large  letters  SB 
twisted  together  in  ordinary  copper  wire. 

"  What  does  it  mean  ?  "  Stoddard  asked. 

"  How  about  Society  Busters  ?  "  Rupert  an- 
swered. "  But  we  need  n't  tell  anybody;  just 
keep  'em  guessing." 

At  that  moment  Nat  Belmont  and  Jerry 
Dorr  came  down  the  basement  steps  to  the 
express  office. 

"  Shall  we  elect  them  members  ?  "  Rupert 
whispered,  on  a  sudden  inspiration.  "  I  've 
got  a  couple  of  extra  pins.  These  fellows  are 
not  in  the  Crown,  and  I  guess  it  would  amuse 
them." 

"All  right,"  said  Stoddard. 

Rupert  summoned  the  two  boys,  and  then 
said  to  them  mysteriously,  "  Do  you  fellows 
want  to  join  the  SB  ?  " 

"What 's  that?  "  asked  Belmont. 

"  A  bluff,"  replied  Rupert.  "  Some  people 
will  think  it 's  a  secret  society,  but  it  is  n't. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      35 

It 's  nothing.  All  you  do  to  belong  is  to  wear 
the  SB  pin — and  keep  up  the  bluff.  The  mem- 
bers never  know  whether  SB  means  Society 
Busters  or  Secret  Bluff,  or  what.  That 's  all 
there  is  to  it.  Want  to  join  ?  " 

"  Sure ! "  they  answered. 

Rupert  presented  them  with  the  insignia. 

"  Now,"  he  said,  "  let 's  put  our  pins  con- 
spicuously on  our  vests  and  sally  forth  into  the 
world.  We  Ve  got  about  five  minutes  before 
study  is  called  in  —  just  time  enough,  if  we 
keep  together  and  hold  a  straight  face,  to  start 
a  nice  little  sensation." 

They  marched  up  the  steps  and  sauntered 
about  in  front  of  the  study,  with  their  hands 
in  their  pockets  and  their  coats  wide  open,  ex- 
hibiting their  pins.  Francis  Stoddard  felt  quite 
self-conscious,  and  had  hard  work  to  repress 
the  nervous  little  smile  that  was  twitching  at 
his  lips.  A  good  many  fellows  seemed  to 
be  staring,  and  that  both  excited  and  embar- 
rassed him.  But  the  three  other  conspirators 
strolled  about  with  faces  that  were  quite 
unconcerned. 


36      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

In  a  moment  the  boys  were  called  in  to 
study.  Francis  went  to  his  desk,  which  was 
next  to  Bruce  Watson's.  As  he  sat  down, 
Bruce  looked  at  him  curiously. 

After  an  hour  of  study  the  master  in  charge 
of  the  room  touched  a  bell,  the  signal  for  the 
five  minutes'  intermission  allowed  before  the 
beginning  of  the  second  hour. 

Instantly  a  confusion  of  talk  and  sound 
sprang  up.  Francis,  engaged  in  finishing  a 
Greek  exercise,  did  not  immediately  leave  his 
seat.  When  he  did  rise,  Bruce  Watson  was 
waiting  for  him  and  Rupert  Ormsby  was  com- 
ing down  the  aisle. 

"What  the  dickens  is  that,  Frank?  "  asked 
Bruce,  putting  out  his  hand  and  touching  the 
pin.  «SB.  What's  SB?" 

Francis  glanced  up  at  Rupert  for  help,  and 
Rupert  answered.  "  SB  is  an  organization  of 
which  Frank  and  I  are  charter  members,"  he 
said.  "  I  'm  rather  surprised  you  should  ask, 
Watson.  You  ought  to  know  the  proper  way 
to  act  about  such  things." 

Watson  reddened,  muttered  an  apology,  and 


HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      37 

then  made  off.  Rupert  winked  at  Francis,  and 
laughed. 

Out  in  the  hall  Watson  gathered  a  group  of 
members  of  the  Crown,  —  Tom  Albree,  Harry 
Harding,  Joe  Herrick,  and  Frank  Windsor. 

"  Have  you  noticed  the  new  society  ?  "  he 
asked  them  excitedly. 

"  Belmont  and  Ormsby  and  that  crowd  ? " 
said  Herrick.  "  I  saw  they  're  flashing  a  pin 
on  us.  You  think  they've  got  a  society?" 

"  I  know  it,"  said  Watson.  "  I  Ve  just 
been  called  down  by  Ormsby  for  inquiring.  I 
know  what  it  is !  He  's  got  it  up  to  buck 
against  the  Crown." 

"It  can't  be  ! "  exclaimed  Harry.  "Rupert 
told  me  himself  he  would  n't  join  the  Crown 
simply  because  he  did  n't  believe  in  secret 
societies.  After  that  he  would  n't  turn  right 
round  and  organize  one." 

"He  has,  though,"  insisted  Watson.  "He 
as  much  as  told  me  so.  He  told  me  he  and 
Stoddard  were  charter  members"  — 

"I  guess,"  Herrick  interrupted,  "he  found 
he  'd  have  to  get  up  another  society  to  work 


38      HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

for  him,  or  else  he'd  lose  the  election.  That's 
it.  You  see  if  there  is  n't  a  sudden  outburst  of 
campaigning  for  Rupert  Ormsby  now.  And 
if  he  is  elected,  he  '11  make  his  society  a  per- 
manent thing  and  try  to  lick  the  Crown  in 
everything.  You  see." 

"  I  think  you  're  right,"  said  Albree.  "  I 
hope,  though,  he 's  started  too  late." 

Herrick's  suggestion  was  most  unwelcome 
to  Harry,  who  was  beginning  to  think,  from 
all  that  had  been  told  him,  that  his  own  elec- 
tion to  the  presidency  of  the  athletic  associa- 
tion was  now  assured.  But  if  Rupert  should 
suddenly  inaugurate  an  organized  effort  in  op- 
position, the  issue  would  be  placed  in  doubt. 
Harry  did  not  feel  confident  of  his  own 
strength.  And  through  the  next  study  hour 
he  sat  with  an  anxious  mind,  which  reproached 
Rupert  for  his  perfidy.  It  seemed,  after  all 
that  Rupert  had  said,  almost  incredible  that 
he  should  have  taken  this  step ;  yet  there 
was  the  pin  he  was  wearing  as  evidence,  and 
the  purpose  of  it  seemed  to  Harry's  agitated 
mind  only  too  clear. 


HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      39 

At  the  end  of  the  hour,  when  the  boys  were 
walking  away  from  the  study  building,  Harry 
attached  himself  to  Rupert. 

"You  don't  mind  my  asking,  Rupe,"  he 
began  at  once,  "  what 's  the  meaning  of  that 
pin  you  're  wearing  ?  " 

"Sh-h!"said  Rupert.  "We  don't  talk 
about  such  things." 

"  I  thought  you  disapproved  of  secret  soci- 
eties," contended  Harry. 

"  There  are  some  things  that  are  not  to  be 
discussed,"  Rupert  answered  coldly. 

"  Just  the  same,  I  think  it 's  pretty  mean  of 
you  to  talk  about  the  Crown  the  way  you  did 
and  then  go  off  and  organize  another  secret 
society." 

"  Sh-h ! "  was  Rupert's  only  reply,  and  it 
had  such  a  teasing  sound  that  it  made  Harry 
too  angry  to  speak.  He  left  Rupert  when  they 
reached  the  dormitory.  Rupert  entered  and 
went  upstairs  to  his  room. 

Harry  waited  outdoors  with  three  or  four 
other  fellows.  By  and  by  Joe  Herrick  arrived, 
and  then  Harry  accompanied  him  upstairs. 


40      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

They  had  rooms  in  the  same  wing  with  Rupert 
Ormsby. 

As  they  were  walking  down  the  long  corri- 
dor, Francis  Stoddard  came  out  of  his  room, 
which  was  the  last  one  in  the  wing.  Herrick 
advanced,  blocking  the  passage. 

"  Look  here,  Stoddard  !  "  he  said. 

He  took  Stoddard  by  the  arms  and  pushed 
him  up  against  the  wall.  They  happened  to 
be  close  by  Rupert's  door,  and  the  transom 
over  the  door  was  open. 

Harry  lingered  out  of  curiosity.  Herrick 
was  always  playing  pranks  with  Stoddard, 
snatching  his  cap  or  his  books,  or  holding  him 
when  the  bell  rang,  and  so  making  him  think 
he  would  be  late  to  chapel  and  get  a  black 
mark.  Harry  did  not  altogether  approve  of 
this  treatment,  but  it  had  its  amusing  side, 
and  now  he  waited  with  a  certain  expectancy. 

"  Let 's  have  a  look  at  this  thing  you  're  wear- 
ing," Herrick  said,  and  holding  Francis  hard 
against  the  wall  with  his  shoulder  and  one 
arm,  he  reached  down  with  the  other  hand  and 
unfastened  the  pin.  Francis  struggled  to  pre- 


HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      41 

vent  him,  but  Herrick  was  strong,  and  held 
him  firmly.  When  he  had  secured  the  pin, 
Herrick  examined  it.  "  What  does  this  cheap 
thing  stand  for  ?  " 

Francis  was  silent. 

"  Not  allowed  to  speak,  eh  ?  Some  kind  of 
a  society.  It  can't  be  much  if  that 's  the  best 
it  can  do  in  the  way  of  a  pin.  SB.  What  do 
you  suppose  SB  stands  for,  Harry  ?  " 

"  Something  Bum,"  suggested  Harry,  with  a 
laugh ;  and  even  Stoddard's  face,  which  had 
been  anxious,  twitched  with  an  involuntary 
smile. 

"  You  say  Something  Bum  and  I  say  Sour 
Boys,"  said  Herrick.  "  What  do  you  say,  Old- 
Stick-in-the-Mud  ?  " 

He  jammed  Stoddard  against  the  wall  in  a 
way  that  made  him  gasp.  But  Stoddard  did 
not  speak. 

"I  think,"  said  Herrick,  pocketing  the  pin, 
"  that  we  '11  keep  this  beautiful  object  as  a 
souvenir  of  the  Somewhat  Bum  Sour  Boys. 
And  now  maybe  you  '11  tell  me  what  you  call 
it.  No?  Oh,  I  think  you  will." 


42      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

He  began  slowly  twisting  Stoddard's  wrist. 

At  that  moment  the  door  by  which  he  was 
standing  opened,  and  Rupert  Ormsby  appeared. 

"  Standing  by  to  see  fair  play,  I  suppose, 
Harry?"  Rupert  said  in  a  calm  voice,  and 
Harry  flushed  and  dropped  his  eyes.  Herrick, 
startled  by  this  sudden  intervention,  stood  un- 
decided, gripping  Stoddard's  wrist. 

"  I  don't  know  why  my  coming  out  should 
make  any  difference  to  you,  Herrick,"  Rupert 
continued.  "  You  were  just  on  the  point  of 
doing  something.  Why  don't  you  go  ahead  ?  " 

"  I  was  just  having  a  little  fun  with  him," 
Herrick  answered.  "  I  was  n't  going  to  hurt 
him." 

"  Why,  of  course  not,"  said  Rupert  mildly. 
"  You  were  just  going  to  persuade  him  to  tell 
you  something  that  you  saw  he  did  n't  want 
to  tell  and  that  was  no  business  of  yours.  You 
weren't  going  to  hurt  him  at  all;  you  were 
just  going  to  try  the  effect  of  a  little  torture 
on  him, — for  you  're  nothing  but  a  bully,  after 
all,  —  and  Harry  was  just  going  to  stand  by 
and  be  amused  !  " 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      43 

"  I  was  n't —  you  're  not  fair,  Rupe  !  "  cried 
Harry,  choking  with  mortification  and  anger. 

But  he  could  not  say  another  word  in  his 
defense,  and  Rupert  passed  him  over  with  an 
ironical  glance.  Herrick  still  kept  his  grip  on 
Stoddard,  but  he  looked  at  Rupert  with  sullen 
eyes,  in  which  there  was  as  much  indecision 
as  wrath. 

"  You  'd  better  mind  your  own  business  !  " 
he  said.  "  You  're  too  fond  of  butting  in." 

"  That  comes  well  from  a  fellow  who  holds 
up  another  and  takes  his  pin  from  him  and 
tries  to  wring  his  secret  out  of  him  by  force," 
Rupert  said  scornfully.  And  in  a  voice  that 
took  on  a  sudden  cutting  edge,  he  cried, "  Now, 
then,  you  bully,  take  your  hands  off  that  boy ! " 

Herrick,  with  a  sneer,  said,  "  Are  n't  we  the 
hero  ! "  and  dropped  his  hands. 

"  Give  him  back  his  pin  !  "  ordered  Rupert. 

Putting  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  Herrick 
slowly  drew  out  the  pin.  And  then,  instead  of 
passing  it  over  to  Stoddard,  he  flung  it  the 
length  of  the  corridor.  Rupert  sprang  upon 
him,  and  pinioning  his  arms,  ground  him 


44      HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

against  the  wall  and  held  him  there  as  helpless 
as  Herrick  had  a  few  moments  before  been 
holding  Stoddard. 

"  I  have  half  a  mind,"  said  Rupert,  speak- 
ing between  his  teeth,  "to  tear  that  pin  of 
yours  from  your  vest  and  throw  it  out  of 
the  window.  It 's  what  you  deserve.  But  I  '11 
tell  you  what  you  '11  do  instead ;  you  '11  march 
down  there  and  pick  up  Stoddard' s  pin,  and 
you'll  pin  it  on  him  with  your  own  hands. 
That's  what  you '11  do." 

"I  won't!"  Herrick  said  furiously. 

"  I  '11  get  it,  Rupert, "  Harry  said,  in  a  chas- 
tened voice,  and  he  started  down  the  corridor. 

"  You  '11  let  it  alone !  "  cried  Rupert.  "  Get 
out  of  the  way ! " 

There  was  a  moment's  tussle  and  then 
Herrick  came  flying  past  Harry  down  the 
corridor,  propelled  by  Rupert's  weight.  He 
brought  up  sufficiently  hard  against  the  wall 
at  the  farther  end,  and  before  he  could  turn, 
he  was  again  in  Rupert 's  grip. 

"  There 's  the  pin,"  said  Rupert,  swinging 
him  round  with  some  violence.  "  Pick  it  up  !  " 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      45 

And  then  Herrick  obeyed.  Rupert  marched 
him  back  up  the  corridor  to  where  Stoddard 
was  standing.  "  Now  pin  it  on  him  !  "  he  said, 
and  again  Herrick  obeyed.  But  when  he  had 
finished  he  turned  toward  Rupert  a  sullen 
and  malignant  face. 

"  You  wait ! "  he  said,  and  his  voice  was 
husky  with  passion.  "  You  wait !  " 

Then  he  turned  and  went  down  the  corri- 
dor, downstairs. 

Harry  loitered  awkwardly. 

"I'm  sorry,  Rupe,"  he  said. 

"  You'd  better  be,"  was  Rupert's  curt  reply. 
"  If  you  really  were,  you  'd  say  it  to  Stod- 
dard, not  to  me." 

Harry  turned  meekly  to  Stoddard.  "I'm 
sorry,  Francis  —  I  am,  honestly,"  he  said. 

"  Oh,  that 's  all  right,"  Stoddard  answered. 
"  You  did  n't  do  anything." 

"Yes,  that  was  just  the  trouble,"  was 
Rupert's  harsh  observation.  "Come  along, 
Frank ! "  and  taking  the  boy  by  the  arm, 
he  led  him  away. 

Harry  turned  and  went  unhappily  to  his 


46      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

room.  He  had  been  stung  to  the  heart  by 
the  truth  in  Rupert's  rebuke ;  and  yet  he  felt 
that  Rupert  had  been  more  cruel  to  him  than 
he  deserved. 


CHAPTER  HI 

AFTER  a  few  hours  Rupert  Ormsby  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  treated 
Harry  with  too  great  severity.  He  had  a  brief 
interview  with  Dorr  and  Belmont  and  Francis 
Stoddard ;  and  then  in  the  half-hour  just  be- 
fore bedtime  which  was  allowed  the  sixth  form 
for  visiting,  he  went  to  Harry's  room. 

"Hello!"  he  said  cheerfully,  when  he  en- 
tered and  found  Harry  alone.  "  I  guess  I  was 
a  little  rough  with  you  before  supper  this 
evening.  You  need  n't  think  I  'm  going  to 
take  back  everything,"  he  added,  "because 
I  'm  not ;  but  maybe  you  got  more  than  you 
deserved." 

"I  think  I  did,"  Harry  answered.  "Of 
course  I  would  n't  have  stood  by  and  let  Stod- 
dard be  really  hurt.  I  'm  sure  I  'd  have  — I  'd 
have  objected  to  that,  anyway.  Herrick  hadn't 
really  hurt  him,  you  know  "  — 

"  Yes,  he  was  only  beginning  to  hurt  him," 


48      HARDING  OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

observed  Rupert.  "  The  thing  is,  a  fellow  like 
you,  who  can  in  a  way  create  sentiment  in  this 
school,  ought  not  to  stand  by  and  seem  amused 
when  Herrick  bullies  an  inoffensive  boy." 

"  I  know  it,"  admitted  Harry,  growing  red. 
"I  just  did  n't  think." 

"  You  're  going  to  be  elected  president  of 
the  athletic  association,"  said  Rupert,  and  at 
this  Harry  grew  more  red  and  embarrassed, 
and  did  not  know  which  way  to  look.  "  Now 
live  up  to  the  job,  Harry  —  before  as  well  as 
after." 

"It's  not  my  job,  I  guess,"  Harry  mur- 
mured. "It's  more  likely  yours." 

Rupert  shook  his  head  and  laughed.  "Not 
for  me.  I  don't  care  about  it  in  the  least,  and 
I  shan't  stand  in  your  way." 

"  It 's  mighty  good  of  you  to  tell  me  that, 
Rupe,"  Harry  said,  with  genuine  feeling.  "  Of 
course,  there's  no  reason  why  I  should  be 
president.  If  the  fellows  want  to  elect  me  I  'd 
like  to  have  it,  but "  — 

It  was  easier  for  him  to  stop,  leaving  the 
sentence  unfinished. 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      49 

"  There  's  one  other  thing  I  came  to  tell 
you,"  said  Rupert.  "  You  notice  I  'm  not  wear- 
ing my  pin.  You  and  Herrick  and  Watson 
needn't  feel  much  worried  about  SB.  I  sup- 
pose you  thought  we  were  trying  to  work 
against  the  Crown  ?  " 

"  We  did  have  that  idea,"  Harry  admitted. 

"I'll  tell  you  about  SB,"  Rupert  said. 
"  One  day  I  saw  Francis  Stoddard  snubbed  by 
Bruce  Watson,  who  'd  always  been  his  special 
friend.  Watson  threw  him  over  —  to  run  with 
some  of  you  fellows  after  being  taken  into  the 
Crown.  I  saw  that  Stoddard  was  feeling  pretty 
sore  and  lonely,  and  I  thought  it  would  make 
him  feel  better  to  have  somebody  intimate 
with  him.  And  then  I  thought  it  would  be 
pretty  good  fun  for  him  and  me  to  pretend 
we  were  members  of  a  secret  society  —  that 
would  seem  intimate,  all  right.  I  thought,  too, 
it  would  be  quite  a  joke  to  get  the  Crown  and 
the  other  fellows  in  the  school  excited  about 
it.  At  the  last  moment  we  decided  to  take 
Jerry  Dorr  and  Nat  Belmont  into  our  fake  so- 
ciety ;  it  would  make  it  look  a  little  more  real. 


50      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

But  none  of  us  wanted  to  stir  up  any  bad 
blood,  and  apparently  we've  done  that.  So 
we  've  called  the  whole  thing  off,  we  've  thrown 
away  our  pins,  and  you  fellows  in  the  Crown  " 
—  he  laughed  —  "  are  still  the  only  real,  gen- 
uine secret  society  in  the  school." 

Harry  smiled  rather  sheepishly. 

"  Then  we  got  so  excited  over  nothing  at 
all?"  he  said. 

"  It  looks  that  way  to  me,"  Rupert  answered, 
rising  to  go.  "  Herrick  was  so  interested  in 
SB,  you  might  tell  him  now  what  it  was,"  he 
added.  "  And  Watson  —  I  think  it  would  be 
just  as  well  if  you  told  Watson  why  SB  was 
organized." 

"I  will,"  Harry  promised.  "I — you  make 
me  feel  quite  small,  Rupert  —  and  at  the 
same  time  I  'm  much  obliged." 

Rupert  took  his  hand  with  a  friendly  laugh. 

"  I  hoped  there  would  n't  be  any  hard  feel- 
ing between  us,"  he  said.  "  Good-night, 
Harry ! " 

It  did  not  soften  Herrick's  resentment  and 
mortification  when  Harry  told  him  the  next 


HARDING  OF   ST.  TIMOTHY'S      51 

day  that  the  new  society  had  been  all  a  joke ; 
it  was  rather  more  humiliating,  if  anything,  to 
know  he  had  been  deluded  as  well  as  rebuked. 

But  Bruce  Watson  was  more  sensitive  to 
Harry's  lecture. 

"  The  whole  thing  about  the  Crown,  Bruce," 
Harry  said  to  him,  "is  that  if  it's  to  have 
any  influence  at  all,  —  and  a  good  influence, 
—  the  fellows  in  it  must  take  an  interest  in 
the  fellows  outside  it.  For  a  fellow  to  join  it 
and  then  cut  the  friends  he 's  had  before  is 
no  way  to  do." 

"  I  was  n't  meaning  to  hurt  Stoddard's  feel- 
ings," Watson  said  meekly.  "I  just  didn't 
think  how  it  would  look.  Of  course  I  like  him 
as  well  as  ever,  but  now  there 's  so  much  I 
can't  talk  over  with  him.  You  can't  be  quite 
so  intimate  with  a  fellow  when  you  're  in  a 
secret  society  and  he 's  not." 

"  Well,  maybe  you  can't,  but  you  've  got  to 
keep  him  from  seeing  it,"  insisted  Harry. 

Watson  declared  an  intention  of  being  more 
discreet  in  the  future,  and  Harry  felt  quite 
virtuous.  He  believed  thoroughly  in  being  a 


52      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

good  influence  in  the  school.  He  even  made  a 
point  of  going  round  among  the  members  of 
the  Crown  and  telling  them  in  an  emphatic  way 
that  they  must  not  act  like  snobs  and  ignore 
fellows  who  were  outside  the  society ;  he  tried 
to  impress  it  on  them  that  it  was  their  duty  to 
be  genial  and  friendly  with  every  one. 

"  That 's  what  we  Ve  been  this  last  week," 
Tom  Albree  said  bluntly.  "  That 's  what 's 
going  to  elect  you  president." 

And  at  that  Frank  Windsor  and  one  or  two 
others  laughed,  and  Harry  looked  annoyed. 

"  You  ought  to  be  that  way  all  the  time," 
he  said,  "  not  just  when  you  want  to  get  some- 
thing out  of  people." 

What  with  the  virtuous  consciousness  of 
being  a  good  influence  in  the  school  and  the 
fresh  security  that  Rupert's  avowed  purpose 
not  to  contest  the  election  gave  him,  Harry 
was  quite  happy.  He  went  about  with  a  brisk 
cheerfulness  and  a  pleasant  smile  for  the  little 
boys  as  well  as  the  big ;  he  flattered  a  lot  of 
small  second-formers  by  kicking  a  football 
with  them  one  day  during  the  noon  recess ; 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      53 

he  went  round  among  the  quiet,  studious  boys 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  forms,  urging  them  to 
write  for  the  "  Mirror,"  of  which  he  was  ed- 
itor, and  inviting  them  to  come  to  his  room 
and  talk  over  with  him  subjects  for  stories 
and  essays. 

Nat  Belmont  remarked  to  Francis  Stoddard 
that  Harding  was  out  "  swiping  "  for  votes ; 
but  this  was  hardly  true.  Harry's  pleasant 
face  and  kind  and  friendly  manner  were  not 
assumed  for  a  purpose;  they  were  natural  to 
him  when  he  was  as  happy  as  he  was  now. 
Everything  seemed  to  be  turning  out  just  as 
he  would  have  it.  Rupert's  denial  of  any  in- 
terest in  the  election  and  failure  to  make  any 
active  canvass  soothed  Harry's  conscience  and 
raised  his  sanguine  hopes. 

The  day  before  the  election  a  thing  took 
place  that  contributed  more  largely  than  any 
previous  occurrence  to  his  happiness. 

The  school  was  divided  into  two  athletic 
clubs,  the  Pythians  and  the  Corinthians,  each 
of  which  had  its  football  eleven.  These  two 
elevens  contested  for  the  school  championship. 


54      HARDING  OF   ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

Afterward  the  school  eleven,  which  played 
annually  against  St.  John's,  was  picked  from 
these  two  teams. 

Harry  had  been  out  every  day,  practicing 
with  the  Corinthians,  and  although  his  room- 
mate, Frank  Windsor,  was  captain,  Harry  had 
never  been  given  much  encouragement.  But 
when  the  list  of  the  eleven  was  posted  on 
the  school  bulletin-board,  he  was  thrilled  to 
find  himself  assigned  to  the  position  of  right 
end.  Holder,  against  whom  he  had  been  play- 
ing in  practice,  and  who,  he  had  supposed, 
would  be  given  the  place,  was  written  down 
as  substitute. 

Harry  turned  away  from  the  bulletin-board, 
swelling  inwardly  with  pride.  This  event  cer- 
tainly vindicated  him  as  a  candidate  for  an 
athletic  presidency.  He  had  a  glimpse  of 
Holder's  face  peering  over  the  circle  of  boys 
about  the  bulletin-board,  and  saw  the  shadow 
of  disappointment  that  settled  on  it ;  and  that 
for  an  instant  made  him  uncomfortable. 

"  But  somebody 's  always  got  to  be  disap- 
pointed," he  thought,  as  he  walked  away. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      55 

He  would  have  been  less  proud  and  happy 
if  he  had  heard  the  consoling  speeches  that 
some  of  the  boys  round  the  bulletin-board 
made  to  Holder.  They  charged  Frank  Wind- 
sor indignantly  with  favoritism. 

It  was  perhaps  a  tacit  acknowledgment  that 
there  was  some  truth  in  the  charge  when 
Windsor  came  up,  and  drawing  Holder  to  one 
side,  told  him  that  even  though  he  was  down 
only  as  substitute,  he  was  sure  of  playing 
through  part  of  the  game. 

On  a  Saturday  night  the  three  upper  forms 
of  the  school  gathered  in  the  auditorium  to 
choose  the  president  of  the  athletic  association. 

One  of  the  masters,  Mr.  Eldredge,  opened 
the  meeting  by  calling  for  nominations.  There 
was  a  moment  of  silence ;  then  Frank  Wind- 
sor rose  and  proposed  Harry  Harding' s  name. 
Tom  Albree  seconded  it;  and  then  Francis 
Stoddard  nominated  Rupert  Ormsby.  There 
were  no  other  names  proposed.  The  tellers 
were  appointed  and  the  voting  began. 

Harry  Harding,  sitting  in  the  front  row  with 
Bruce  Watson  and  Joe  Herrick,  tried  to  appear 


56      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

quite  unconcerned.  But  as  he  turned  round 
over  the  back  of  his  chair  to  talk  with  some 
one  behind  him,  his  eyes  were  sparkling  with 
excitement  and  there  was  a  self-conscious  smile 
on  his  face. 

Rupert  Onnsby,  in  the  back  of  the  room, 
was  being  disorderly  in  a  juvenile  way.  With 
his  foot  up  against  the  wall,  he  was  jamming 
a  line  of  chairs  together,  while  everybody 
down  the  line  resisted,  and  the  two  or  three 
fellows  nearest  him  heaved  with  shoulders  and 
arms  against  his  mighty  back  —  all  of  them 
hilarious  with  laughter. 

"  Harry  pretends  he  does  n't  care,"  said  Nat 
Belmont  to  Francis  Stoddard,  "and  Rupert 
Ormsby  really  doesn't  care.  That's  what  I 
like  about  him ;  he  does  n't  give  a  hoot." 

Mr.  Eldredge  rapped  on  the  table  for  order  ; 
the  tellers  were  ready  to  make  their  report. 
When  the  room  was  quiet,  one  of  them  read : 

"  Total  number  of  votes  cast,  94  ;  Ormsby, 
39 ;  Harding,  55.  Mr.  Harding  is  elected." 

The  applause  that  greeted  this  announce- 
ment came  mainly  from  the  front  part  of  the 


HARDING  OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S      57 

room,  where  the  Crown  adherents  were  massed, 
but  it  was  loud  and  enthusiastic ;  and  when 
boys  began  shouting,  "  Speech  !  Speech  !  " 
Harry  rose,  blushing,  and  bowed. 

Mr.  Eldredge  resigned  the  chair  to  him,  and 
Harry  presided  for  the  rest  of  the  meeting 
with  a  confiding  shyness  and  embarrassment 
that  were  rather  winning.  Frank  Windsor  was 
elected  secretary  and  Dick  Judson  was  elected 
treasurer ;  and  then  the  meeting  adjourned. 

Boys  crowded  up  on  the  platform  to  con- 
gratulate Harry,  and  flocked  about  him  as  he 
made  his  way  out  of  the  hall.  Rupert  Ormsby 
was  among  them,  and  gave  his  hand  the 
heartiest  grip  of  any  one ;  and  Harry  said, 
"  Thanks,  old  man  !  "  very  feelingly. 

He  sat  up  late  in  the  schoolroom  that  even- 
ing, writing  to  his  mother  and  to  Clark  of  his 
election.  The  letter  to  Clark  would  follow 
him  half-way  round  the  world,  and  reach  him 
probably  somewhere  in  India.  Harry  knew 
that  it  would  please  his  brother,  wherever  he 
might  be. 

When  Harry  was  mounting  the  stairs  of  the 


58      HAEDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

dormitory  to  his  room,  he  met  Joe  Herrick, 
clad  in  a  dressing-gown,  rushing  down  to  his 
bath.  Herrick  flung  an  arm  about  Harry's 
neck,  and  whispered  :  — 

"  The  gang  is  going  to  the  Pie  House  to- 
morrow afternoon  to  drink  your  health.  You '  ve 
got  to  come." 

"  Oh,  we  'd  better  not,"  said  Harry  anx- 
iously. "  Why,  if  we  're  caught,  you  know 
what  it  means  —  fired  from  school,  maybe ! " 

"  The  rector  would  never  fire  any  one  just 
for  that,"  replied  Herrick.  "  Besides,  it 's  the 
risk  that  will  make  the  fun.  And  to-morrow 's 
my  birthday,  and  I  'm  setting  the  crowd  up 
—  in  your  honor.  They  Ve  all  promised,  and 
you  've  got  to  come  —  after  all  they  've  done 
for  you ! " 

There  was  an  unpleasant  suggestion  in  that 
which  stung  Harry,  and  he  said,  with  reluc- 
tance, "  All  right.  I  think  it 's  foolish,  but  I  '11 
come.  I  won't  drink  anything,  though." 

"  Nobody 's  really  going  to  drink  anything," 
Herrick  assured  him.  "Just  a  taste  to  go 
round — in  your  honor." 


By  permission  of  The  Youth's  Companiui 


'THE    GANG    IS   GOING  TO  THE   PIE-HOUSE    TO-MORROW   AFTER- 
NOON  TO  DRINK   YOUR   HEALTH" 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      59 

"  All  right,"  said  Harry,  and  Herrick  went 
bounding  in  his  slippers  down  the  stairs. 
Harry  climbed  the  rest  of  the  way  with  a  less 
joyous  heart  than  that  which  he  had  had  dur- 
ing the  first  part  of  his  ascent.  He  had  never 
been  to  the  Pie  House  in  his  life,  and  he  was 
both  ashamed  and  afraid  at  having  pledged 
himself  to  this  violation  of  the  school  rules. 

The  Pie  House,  in  spite  of  its  innocent  name, 
had  a  doubtful  reputation,  and  it  was  generally 
understood  that  the  three  or  four  reckless  and 
daring  youths  who  had  visited  it  had  done  so 
to  indulge  a  taste  for  other  things  than  pastry. 
It  was  also  generally  understood  that  the  pen- 
alty for  visiting  it  was  expulsion  from  the 
school ;  and  Harry  lay  awake  in  bed  and  miser- 
ably pictured  the  consequences  to  himself  and 
to  his  mother  and  to  Clark  if  he  should  be 
caught. 

The  next  morning  he  found  all  the  other 
members  of  the  Crown  in  a  whispering,  nervous, 
excited  state  over  the  expedition  planned  for 
the  afternoon.  They  had  all  succumbed  to 
Herrick's  invitation.  None  of  them  had  quite 


60      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

dared  to  hold  out  against  it  for  fear  of  being 
derided  as  a  "  softy,"  and  now  they  were  en- 
gaged in  reassuring  one  another. 

Harry  said  lightly  to  Frank  Windsor  and 
Tom  Albree  and  Russell  Stearns  :  — 

"  I  'd  hate  to  be  snagged.  It  would  n't  be 
much  fun  getting  fired." 

"Oh,  a  crowd  like  this  would  n't  be  fired," 
declared  Frank  Windsor.  "  Why,  they  could 
n't  fire  us  all — a  crowd  of  the  best  fellows  in 
the  school  —  ten  of  us !  And  if  they  don't 
fire  all,  they  can't  fire  one.  The  most  they  'd 
do  to  us  would  be  to  soak  us  with  a  whole  lot 
of  Latin  lines  for  two  or  three  afternoons." 

"I  guess  that's  about  right,"  Harry  said 
more  cheerfully.  "And  if  we  don't  really  do 
anything,  I  don't  see  the  harm  in  looking  into 
the  Pie  House." 

"I'm  not  going  to  touch  a  drop,"  Frank 
Windsor  said,  "  and  none  of  you  fellows  who 
are  on  the  Corinthian  team  can  break  training. 
Mind  that!" 

By  giving  such  instructions  Frank  felt  that 
as  captain  of  the  team  he  was  doing  his  duty. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      61 

It  was  a  fine  October  afternoon  when  the 
members  of  the  Crown  started  out,  disconnect- 
edly as  usual,  for  their  rallying  place.  But 
instead  of  stopping  at  the  sacred  rock,  they 
continued  on  across  the  pasture  into  the 
woods.  They  hurried  single  file  along  a  path 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  then  came  out 
upon  a  lonely,  back-country  road. 

"  We  've  got  the  start  of  everybody  else  in 
school,"  said  Joe  Herrick.  "No  masters  out 
skulking  will  have  got  up  as  far  as  this  yet, 
so  we  're  all  right  going  in  —  and  if  we  're 
careful  we  '11  be  all  right  coming  out." 

After  a  time  they  came  to  a  lonely,  weather- 
beaten  house,  with  three  scrawny  horse-chest- 
nut-trees growing  in  the  yard.  The  shades 
at  the  windows  were  discolored  and  torn,  the 
stone  step  at  the  front  door  sagged  away 
from  the  door-sill  and  left  a  gaping  crev- 
ice. Altogether,  the  Pie  House  did  not  look 
very  prosperous.  But  even  in  its  dejected 
appearance  it  filled  ten  boys  with  excite- 
ment. 

"  One  of   you  fellows  stand  down  at  the 


62      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

bend  of  the  road  and  keep  watch,"  said  Her- 
rick, "  and  the  rest  of  you  pretend  to  be 
walking  along.  I  '11  see  about  getting  in." 

Then,  while  Tom  Albree  stationed  him- 
self as  outpost,  Herrick  entered  the  yard  and 
knocked  on  the  door. 

It  was  opened  by  a  small,  weak-looking 
man  with  a  furtive  and  dejected  face.  Her- 
rick spoke  to  him  a  moment,  and  then  turn- 
ing, beckoned  to  the  other  fellows  to  come. 
They  crowded  hastily  into  the  house,  into  a 
bare  room  with  tattered  wall-paper  and  bat- 
tered chairs,  and  closed  the  door. 

The  sad  little  man,  who  seemed  to  have  a 
mean  sort  of  quietness,  set  about  serving  them 
without  speaking  a  word.  He  brought  out 
a  jug  of  cider  and  some  glasses,  which  he 
filled  and  passed  in  silence. 

"  He's  got  nothing  stronger,"  said  Herrick. 
"But  this  is  good  hard  cider,  all  right,  and  if 
you  drink  enough  of  it,  it  will  make  you  feel 
pretty  well." 

"I  don't  think  I'll  take  any,"  said  Frank 
Windsor.  "  You  fellows  that  are  playing  foot- 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      63 

ball  had  better  not  take  any ;  it 's  out  of  train- 
ing." 

"Shucks,  Frank!"  said  Herrick.  "I'm 
giving  this  party,  and  I've  got  to  drink  with 
my  guests.  Besides,  a  drop  of  apple-juice 
won't  hurt  anybody.  Just  touch  your  lips  to 
it,  anyway  —  for  the  sake  of  a  toast.  Now 
then,  fellows,  here  's  to  our  athletic  president, 
president  of  the  Crown,  all  kinds  of  a  presi- 
dent, Harry  Harding ! " 

They  all  raised  their  glasses  and  drank  in 
Harry's  honor,  and  cried,  "  A-ay  !" 

Then  Harry,  quite  excited  and  happy,  held 
aloft  his  glass,  and  said,  "  Here 's  to  our  host 
and  his  birthday  ! " 

But  just  at  that  moment  Bruce  Watson  ex- 
claimed in  a  frightened  voice,  "  Look,  fellows, 
look ! "  and  crouching  to  one  side,  pointed  out 
of  the  window. 

Doctor  Vincent,  the  school  physician,  was 
coming  up  the  path  to  the  house. 


CHAPTER  IV 

rilHE  keeper  of  the  Pie  House  seemed  al- 
-*-  most  as  much  agitated  as  the  boys. 

"  Keep  still !  Keep  still !  "  he  adjured  them. 
"It's  the  doctor  come  to  see  my  sick  wife." 

The  boys  were  all  crouching  in  corners  and 
squatting  on  the  floor  to  get  below  the  level 
of  the  very  low  window-sill  in  front  of  which 
the  approaching  doctor  must  pass.  The  keeper 
of  the  Pie  House  slipped  out  into  the  hall 
and  closed  the  door  behind  him.  Albree,  who 
was  nearest,  reached  up  and  turned  the  key  in 
the  lock. 

They  all  remained  quite  motionless,  none  of 
them  even  daring  to  glance  up  at  the  win- 
dows. They  crouched  with  lowered  heads,  on 
the  chance  that  if  Doctor  Vincent  should  look 
in  he  might  not  recognize  them. 

"  We  must  n't  move.  In  this  rattletrap  of  a 
house  the  least  sound  will  be  heard,"  Frank 
Windsor  warned  them  in  a  whisper. 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      65 

"S-sh!"  said  Harry. 

The  doctor  was  entering  the  hall.  Through 
the  thin  partition  the  boys  could  hear  the  creak 
of  the  boards  under  his  feet,  and  then  his 
cheerful  greeting,  "  How  are  you,  Shoop  ?  " 

They  heard  everything  with  the  most  terri- 
fying distinctness.  There  was  not  much  relief 
to  the  tension,  even  when  they  heard  him  pass 
the  door  and  go  up  the  stairs.  They  knew  that 
they  were  prisoners  as  long  as  he  remained  in 
the  house. 

In  another  moment  they  heard  him  in  the 
room  above.  After  moving  round  for  a  while 
he  evidently  seated  himself  in  a  rocking-chair 
and  rocked  and  rocked. 

The  boys  cautiously,  one  by  one,  got  them- 
selves into  more  comfortable  positions. 

"  Whew  !  That  was  a  narrow  escape  !  " 
Herrick  said,  under  his  breath. 

"  Do  you  suppose  Shoop  will  squeal  on  us?  " 
Albree  whispered  anxiously. 

"  No,  he  'd  have  no  object.  "  But  in  spite  of 
this  assertion,  they  all  felt  very  distrustful  of 
the  furtive,  mean-looking  little  man. 


66      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"  We  're  not  out  of  the  woods  yet,"  Harry 
whispered  gloomily  to  Frank  Windsor.  "  Sup- 
pose the  doctor  makes  a  long  call  ?  He  may 
keep  us  here  too  late  for  us  to  get  to  sacred 
studies.  Then  what  ?  " 

This  was  a  possibility  which  had  not  been 
considered,  and  its  seriousness  was  admitted. 
If  they  should  be  absent  from  the  class  which 
the  rector  personally  conducted,  or  even  be  late 
to  it,  there  would  undoubtedly  be  a  search- 
ing investigation ;  and  even  if  this  led  to  no- 
thing, the  punishment  for  the  lapse  would  be 
severe. 

Frank  Windsor  looked  at  his  watch.  They 
had  three  quarters  of  an  hour  leeway,  and  they 
could  at  a  pinch  make  the  distance  to  the  school 
in  fifteen  minutes. 

"  If  only  Doctor  Vincent's  coachman  were 
not  sitting  out  there ! "  muttered  Herrick.  "  It 
would  be  easy  enough  to  drop  out  of  the  win- 
dow, run  round  the  house,  and  get  away.  But 
I  suppose  that  coachman  would  tell." 

"He'd  probably  yell  out  and  give  the 
alarm,"  said  Harry  dejectedly. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      67 

There  seemed  nothing  for  them  but  to  wait 
in  patience  and  hope. 

Meanwhile  upstairs  Doctor  Vincent  had  con- 
cluded his  examination  of  his  patient  and  had 
given  his  prescription.  He  stayed  on,  talking 
cheerfully  with  the  woman,  who  was  suffering 
more  from  loneliness  and  overwork  and  ner- 
vous depression  than  from  any  bodily  ailment. 
At  last  he  rose  and  bade  her  good-by,  but  in- 
stead of  going  immediately  downstairs,  he  said 
to  her  husband :  — 

"  Shoop,  I  want  to  have  a  few  words  in  pri- 
vate with  you." 

The  man  looked  frightened.  "  She  —  she 
ain't  dying,  doctor?"  he  whispered.  "Come 
in  here."  He  led  Doctor  Vincent  into  a  room 
across  the  hall. 

"  No,"  said  the  doctor.  "  She  's  doing  first 
rate ;  she  '11  be  all  right  in  a  few  days.  That 's 
not  what  I  wanted  to  talk  to  you  about.  As  I 
came  past  your  windows  downstairs,  I  looked 
in,  and  saw  that  you  had  been  entertaining 
some  guests." 

He  looked  at  Shoop  sternly,  and  the  keeper 


68      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

of  the  Pie  House  dropped  his  eyes  in  distress. 
Then  he  glanced  up  with  furtive  appeal. 

"  I  ain't  doing  no  harm  to  those  young 
fellows,  honest  I  ain't,  doctor,"  he  said. 

"  You  gave  the  rector  your  word,  Shoop," 
Doctor  Vincent  replied,  "  that  there  should  be 
no  more  of  this  sort  of  thing.  The  school 
promised  to  help  you.  The  rector 's  given  you 
employment,  and  he  promised  to  do  more  for 
you  as  long  as  you  behaved  yourself.  You 
gave  him  your  word.  You  not  only  went  back 
on  your  word  —  you  Ve  done  it  at  a  time  when 
you  should  have  had  nothing  but  gratitude  to 
Doctor  Davenport.  After  Mrs.  Davenport  had 
come  up  here  herself  and  visited  your  sick  wife 
and  done  things  for  her  !  I  tell  you,  Shoop, 
I  have  nothing  but  contempt  for  such  a 
fellow  as  you ! " 

There  was  a  flush  on  Snoop's  weak  face, 
but  now  he  looked  at  the  doctor  without  fal- 
tering. 

"You're  too  hard  on  me,  doctor;  honest, 
you  are,"  he  said  earnestly.  "  I  had  n't  a  no- 
tion of  selling  stuff  to  the  young  fellows  no 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      69 

more,  and  when  they  came  this  afternoon  I 
said  so.  But  one  of  'em  explained  it  was  his 
birthday,  and  they  just  wanted  to  pretend, 
anyway,  they  were  having  a  —  a  blowout ;  and 
I  had  nothing  but  cider  in  the  house,  doctor, 
nothing  but  cider,  honest  —  and  that  not  what 
you  might  call  real  hard.  So  I  thought  there 
could  n't  be  much  harm  in  just  pourin'  'em 
out  a  little  of  that.  I've  got  rid  of  all  my 
other  stuff.  I'll  take  you  down  cellar  and 
show  you,  if  you  say  so,  doctor ;  I  '11  take  you 
in  and  show  you  what  the  young  fellows  have 
been  drinkin',  if  you  don't  believe  me.  But 
it's  the  truth  I'm  tellin'  you,  and  I  didn't 
go  to  break  my  word  to  Doctor  Davenport — 
I  did  n't  go  to  do  it,  honest." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Doctor  Vincent,  "  I  be- 
lieve you.  I  believe  you  enough  to  make  these 
terms  :  You  give  me  your  word  that  hereafter 
you  '11  turn  away  any  boys  who  come  to  you, 
and  that  you  '11  not  sell  them  even  cider,  and 
we  '11  let  this  matter  pass." 

"  I  '11  give  you  my  word,  doctor  —  honest," 
said  the  man. 


70      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

" All  right.  But  remember!  If  you  don't 
keep  it  this  time,  the  school's  done  with  you." 

Doctor  Vincent  went  slowly  down  the  stairs, 
and  then,  with  a  faint  smile  on  his  face,  walked 
up  to  the  locked  door,  and  stood  there,  putting 
on  his  gloves.  He  did  this  very  deliberately, 
enjoying  the  thought  of  the  consternation  he 
must  be  causing  the  culprits  within. 

For  a  moment,  kind-hearted  man  though 
he  was,  he  had  a  boyish  impulse  to  open  the 
door,  just  for  the  fun  of  seeing  how  scared 
they  would  be.  But  he  contented  himself  with 
chuckling  at  the  thought  as  he  left  the  house. 

He  climbed  into  the  buggy  and  drove  rap- 
idly away,  but  at  the  bend  in  the  road  he 
stopped  his  horse.  Rupert  Ormsby  and  Francis 
Stoddard  were  passing,  and  Doctor  Vincent 
had  an  idea. 

"  Ormsby,"  he  called,  "  may  I  have  a  word 
with  you?"  And  then,  as  Stoddard  was  con- 
siderately walking  on,  he  added,  "No,  you. 
too,  Stoddard,  please."  But  he  addressed  his 
words  to  Rupert. 

"  I  Ve  just  been  making  a  call  at  the  Pie 


HAEDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      71 

House  —  and  there  are  some  fellows  there  who 
ought  not  to  be.  Now  I  don't  like  to  report 
boys.  I  think,  anyway,  that  for  fellows  as  old 
as  these  are,  the  discipline  ought  to  come  from 
among  themselves.  I  had  just  a  glimpse,  but 
I  think  some  of  them,  anyway,  are  football- 
players.  I  wish,  Ormsby,  that  you'd  be  on 
hand  when  they  come  out,  and  then  pitch  into 
'em —  for  breaking  training  and  all  that,  you 
know ;  give  them  a  good  dressing  down  and 
make  them  ashamed  of  themselves.  I  don't 
intend  to  push  the  matter  any  farther.  You  '11 
handle  it  for  me  ?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed.  It  will  be  great  sport.  I  love 
to  scold,"  said  Rupert,  and  the  boy  and  the 
doctor  laughed  at  each  other  in  a  way  that 
Francis  Stoddard  did  not  quite  understand. 

"  You  '11  have  to  keep  a  straight  face  or  you 
won't  do  any  good,"  said  Doctor  Vincent. 

"  Oh,  I  '11  be  harsh  enough  with  them.  If  I 
find  any  football  fellows  in  the  gang  I  will 
work  myself  up  into  a  perfect  rage,"  Rupert 
assured  him. 

"  You '  d  better  be  going  along,  then .  They  '11 


72      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

be  coming  out  pretty  soon."  The  two  boys 
touched  their  hats  and  the  doctor  drove  rapidly 
away. 

Stoddard  and  Rupert  walked  on  in  silence, 
and  came  in  sight  of  the  Pie  House  just  as  the 
lawless  revelers,  who  thought  they  had  allowed 
a  sufficient  time  to  elapse  after  the  doctor's 
departure,  were  emerging.  Herrick  and  Albree 
and  Frank  Windsor  had  already  come  out,  and 
two  others  were  in  the  doorway ;  and  when 
they  saw  the  two  figures  approaching  along 
the  road,  they  betrayed  for  an  instant  the 
most  ludicrous  consternation.  One  of  the  boys 
darted  back  into  the  house  and  banged  the 
door,  and  the  others  stood  dismayed. 

"  Oh, it's  all  right, fellows ;  it 's  onlyOrmsby 
and  Stoddard ! "  Herrick  exclaimed,  after  a 
moment,  with  contemptuous  relief. 

And  at  just  the  same  moment  Rupert  was 
saying  to  Stoddard :  — 

"  You  've  never  seen  me  really  fierce ;  you 
watch  me." 

Stoddard  did  not  know  quite  what  to  make 
of  the  humorous  gleam  in  Rupert's  eyes,  so 


HAEDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      73 

oddly  followed  by  the  heavy,  determined  set- 
tling of  his  jaw. 

Harry  Harding  and  Bruce  Watson  and  the 
other  members  of  the  Crown  came  flocking  out 
of  the  Pie  House.  Rupert  and  Stoddard  sat 
down  on  the  stone  wall  by  the  roadside  and 
awaited  them.  They  approached  with  an  air 
of  bravado.  Coming  out  into  the  road,  they 
nodded  to  the  two  boys  indifferently,  and  were 
on  the  point  of  sauntering  past,  when  Rupert 
observed,  in  an  audible  tone :  — 

"  I  see  that  the  Crown  has  a  new  meeting- 
place." 

He  got  down  from  the  wall,  and  in  his  most 
leisurely  manner  and  with  his  hands  in  his 
pockets,  but  wearing  an  expression  that  was  as 
grave  as  that  of  the  other  boys  was  troubled 
and  resentful,  he  walked  up  to  Frank  Windsor. 

"  Look  here,  fellows  !  "  His  voice  had  the 
sharp,  abrupt  tone  of  command  which  they  had 
never  heard  from  him  before  except  on  the 
football  field ;  and  reluctant  though  they  were, 
they  stopped  sullenly  to  listen.  "  Windsor  and 
Herrickand  Harding  and  Albreeand  Stearns ! " 


74      HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

He  enumerated  the  names  with  slow  disdain. 
"  Five  fellows  who  are  on  the  two  first  elevens 

—  five   fellows  who  are  candidates   for   the 
school  team !    And  right  in  the  middle  of  the 
football  season  to  sneak  off  and  break  training, 
and  run  the  risk  of  being  fired  from  the  school, 
when  you  know  how  you  're  needed  to  help 
build  up  the  school  team  !   I  want  to  congrat- 
ulate you  five.    I  want  especially  to  congratu- 
late you,  Windsor,  as  captain  of  the  Corinthian 
eleven,  and  you,  Harding,  as  president  of  the 
athletic  association." 

"We  didn't  really  break  training,"  said 
Frank  Windsor.  "  And  they  'd  never  have  fired 
such  a  crowd  of  us." 

"  No,  they  'd  never  have  fired  a  crowd  of  the 
best  fellows  in  the  school,  as  I  think  Harding 
once  described  you  to  me,"  said  Rupert.  "  Per- 
haps not.  But  they  would  have  suspended  you 

—  or  put  you  on  probation,  anyway.    You  'd 
not  have  been  allowed  to  play  on  any  school 
team.    You  must  have  known  that,  all  of  you, 
and  yet  you  deliberately  ran  the  risk  — ran  the 
risk  of  crippling  the  school  team  and  spoiling 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      75 

its  chances !  Five  of  the  best  fellows  in  the 
school  —  who  would  have  bragged  of  their 
loyalty  !  Five  of  our  first  eleven  men,  the  Co- 
rinthian captain,  the  athletic  president  —  and 
all  that  noble,  noble  institution,  the  Crown  !  " 
He  swept  them  with  a  look  of  scorn.  Then, 
after  a  moment  of  silence,  he  walked  slowly 
past  them  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  and 
the  faintest  smile  of  contempt  curling  his  lips, 
and  as  he  passed  he  looked  squarely  into  each 
sober,  downcast  face.  Not  one  of  the  boys 
answered  him  a  word,  and  he  walked  on  and 
left  them. 

Stoddard  accompanied  him  in  a  subdued 
silence.  When  they  got  out  of  sight  and  hear- 
ing of  the  others,  Rupert  turned  to  him  with 
a  broad  grin. 

"  How  about  it  ?   Was  I  fierce  all  right  ?  " 
Stoddard  looked  at  him  wonderingly.   Then 
he  answered,  with  a  faint,  half-comprehending 
smile :  — 

"  Well,  I  should  say  !   I  'm  scared  yet." 
Rupert  chuckled.   "  It  was  more  fun  than 
a  goat.    To  see  'em  all  lined  up  there  like  little 


76      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

kids,  waiting  for  a  licking !  Once  I  thought  I 
was  going  to  laugh  and  spoil  it  all." 

"  But  were  n't  you  —  did  n't  you  mean  what 
you  said  to  them  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  felt  quite  badly  about  their  actions," 
Rupert  replied.  And  then  he  became  more 
serious.  "Why,  yes,  if  I'd  just  seen  them 
coming  out  of  the  Pie  House  and  the  doctor 
hadn't  given  me  any  tip,  I  'd  have  had  to  talk 
to  them,  of  course  —  sort  of  sad  and  sorry  be- 
cause they  did  n't  have  more  sense.  That 's  the 
way  I  'd  have  felt  —  and  talked.  But  when 
the  doctor  told  me  to  light  into  them  —  well, 
it  was  easy  enough.  Maybe  it  was  better  for 
them.  Anyway,  it  was  more  fun  for  me.  I 
guess  they  won't  break  training  again  in  a 
hurry.  Poor  old  Frank  Windsor  and  Harry 
Harding  !  Did  you  notice  them  ?  They  looked 
as  woebegone  as  if  they  'd  just  been  fired  from 
the  school." 

"  Some  of  'em  looked  pretty  mad,"  Stoddard 
said.  "Herrick  was  mad." 

Rupert  laughed.  "Well,  I  don't  wonder," 
he  acknowledged.  "I  guess  maybe  I  was  pretty 


HARDING    OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      77 

insulting.  We  'd  better  be  hurrying  along  now, 
to  get  back  in  time  for  sacred  studies." 

Harry  Harding  "flunked"  his  recitation  in 
the  Bible  lesson  that  Sunday  afternoon.  He 
could  not  remember  for  what  Gibeon  was  dis- 
tinguished. He  stood  for  a  few  moments  in 
silence  and  with  a  reddening  face,  and  then 
began,  "He  was  a  great  general." 

"That  will  do,"  said  the  rector,  and  the  class 
tittered.  The  rector  made  a  mark  on  his  form 
list  with  deliberation.  He  had  a  way  of  im- 
parting to  such  a  note  of  delinquency  a  dis- 
mal solemnity.  Harry,  the  prize  scholar  of 
the  class,  sat  down. 

Rupert  answered  the  question,  and  Harry 
was  enraged  to  find  that  Gibeon  was  a  city, 
and  that  the  sun  had  stood  still  over  it  a  whole 
day.  It  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  always 
known  that.  He  had  of  course  just  confused 
it  with  Gideon. 

It  was  hardly  fair  that  he  should  get  zero 
for  the  lesson,  and  be  humiliated  besides,  for 
so  small  a  slip.  And  then  the  fact  that  Rupert 
had  answered  so  correctly  and  completely  irri- 


78      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

tated  him.  Rupert  seemed  to  have  a  faculty 
for  being  always  right  and  for  making  a 
fellow  who  made  a  slip  of  any  kind  feel 
needlessly  small.  Harry  sat  through  the  rest 
of  that  recitation  in  a  mournfully  resentful 
mood. 

After  the  class  was  dismissed  he  avoided 
Rupert;  but  later  in  the  day,  just  before  sup- 
per, he  came  upon  him  and  Doctor  Vincent 
talking  together  in  the  hall. 

Harry  tried  to  slip  by  unnoticed;  but  Ru- 
pert, who  had  been  laughing  over  something 
that  he  had  been  telling  the  doctor,  turned 
and  nodded  with  a  casual  good-humor,  and 
said,  "Hello,  Harry!" 

That  evening,  after  the  prayers  in  the  com- 
mon room,  when  the  boys  were  getting  ready 
to  go  down  to  the  study  for  the  hour  of  read- 
ing and  letter-writing,  Rupert,  standing  by 
the  door,  grabbed  Harry's  arm. 

"  Look  here,"  he  said,  "  you  first  eleven  men 
are  all  candidates  for  the  school  team.  You 
want  to  make  it  if  you  can,  Harry.  I  'm  going 
to  keep  watch  of  your  playing  from  now  on." 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      79 

Harry  felt  that  it  was  a  kind  and  friendly 
and  encouraging  speech,  and  that  for  Rupert, 
at  least,  the  unpleasant  episode  of  the  after- 
noon was  all  past  and  forgotten.  So  his  heart 
was  softened,  and  he  walked  meekly  and  alone 
down  to  the  study,  thinking  that,  after  all, 
Rupert  was  a  mighty  good  fellow. 

Joe  Herrick,  however,  was  implacable,  and 
that  evening  expressed  himself  to  Harry  bit- 
terly about  Rupert. 

"  He 's  the  kind  that  loves  to  go  round  spy- 
ing on  a  fellow,"  he  declared.  "He's  a  goody- 
goody  boy ;  he 's  always  parading  to  show  how 
much  better  he  is  than  anybody  else;  and 
I  don't  care  if  he  is  a  good  football  player, 
he 's  a  stiff.  He 's  bigger  and  stronger  than 
me,  and  when  I  play  end  against  him  in  the 
game  between  the  Pythians  and  Corinthians 
next  Saturday,  I  suppose  he  '11  do  me  up ;  but 
would  n't  I  like  to  show  him  how  to  play 
football!  I  bet  it  would  take  some  of  the 
superiority  and  conceit  out  of  him  if  I  only 
could.  I  'm  going  to  practice  hard  this  week 
all  right,  and  may  be  I  '11  surprise  him  yet  — 


80      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

the  chump  !  He  thinks  because  he 's  captain 
of  the  school  eleven  he  owns  the  earth !  " 

Herrick  went  on  raving  in  this  intemperate 
fashion,  while  Harry  attempted  to  put  in  a 
mild,  persuasive  defense  of  Rupert. 

"  Oh,  you  're  too  good-natured,  Harry ! "  said 
Herrick  scornfully.  "  You  ought  n't  to  forgive 
a  fellow  so  easily  that 's  been  a  chump.  If  I 
only  get  a  good  chance,"  he  added,  as  he  and 
Harry  separated  in  the  corridor  of  the  dormi- 
tory, "  I  '11  show  him  yet ! " 


CHAPTER  V 

T  TARRY  laced  up  his  canvas  jacket  with 
-*--•-  trembling  fingers.  His  hands  were 
clammy,  and  he  had  a  scared  feeling  that  to- 
day he  was  more  brittle  than  usual.  But  he 
was  not  going  to  let  any  one  see  that  he  was 
scared. 

All  the  boys  of  both  elevens  were  dressing 
in  the  athletic  house,  and  there  was  not  by  any 
means  the  noisy  chatter  that  preceded  the  prac- 
tice on  an  ordinary  afternoon.  The  talk  was 
in  low  tones  and  the  laughter  was  subdued. 

Two  boys  who  were  to  be  opponents  in  the 
line-up  were  dressing  side  by  side,  and  boast- 
ing humorously  of  what  they  were  going  to 
do  to  each  other,  but  generally  the  atmosphere 
of  the  athletic  house  this  afternoon  was  busi- 
ness-like and  serious. 

Frank  Windsor  went  round,  nervously 
touching  one  after  another  of  his  eleven,  and 
saying,  "Hurry  up,  old  man!  Hurry  up!" 


82      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

His  eyes  shone  with  excitement  and  his  cheeks 
were  red ;  he  looked  flurried.  Over  in  a  corner 
Rupert  Ormsby,  with  nothing  on  but  one  red 
stocking,  sat  patiently  picking  a  knot  in  his 
shoestring  and  whistling  in  a  subdued  key. 

Joe  Herrick,  all  dressed,  sat  on  a  bench 
across  the  room  and  looked  at  Rupert's  muscles. 
They  were  brown  and  big  and  active;  there 
was  something  unpleasantly  suggestive  in  the 
way  they  quivered  and  stood  out  in  Rupert's 
arms  when  he  was  engaged  in  even  the  mild 
exercise  of  picking  a  knot. 

"No  joke  having  to  go  up  against  a  big 
brute  like  that,"  thought  Herrick.  "  But  if  I 
could  only  put  it  all  over  him ! " 

Frank  Windsor  clapped  his  hands  and  cried, 
"  All  out,  Corinthians ! " 

Rupert,  drawing  on  his  other  stocking, 
looked  up  with  a  smile.  "  We  '11  be  with  you 
in  a  moment,"  he  said. 

It  was  a  snapping,  bright  October  day,  with 
a  north  wind  blowing  and  clouds  flying  up 
over  the  brilliant  woods  that  surrounded  the 
field.  Harry,  running  out  into  this  clear  sharp 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      83 

air,  felt  a  little  stronger  than  he  had  been 
when  he  sat  in  the  dressing-room  and  waited. 

The  Corinthians,  who  were  spread  along 
the  nearer  side  of  the  field,  raised  a  cheer  for 
their  team,  and  Harry,  as  he  followed  Frank 
Windsor  and  jumped  over  the  rope,  felt  very 
proud. 

Frank  Windsor  warmed  his  eleven  up  at 
once  by  giving  them  signal  practice.  Harry 
crouched  and  ran  and  went  through  all  the 
motions  with  enthusiasm.  It  was  not  at  all 
bad  fun,  this  harmless  showing  off  before  a 
crowd  of  sympathetic  spectators. 

In  the  midst  of  it  a  cheer  broke  from  the 
boys  on  the  farther  side  of  the  field  —  the 
Pythian  cheer ;  and  at  that  Harry,  who  had 
just  crouched  in  the  mimic  line-up,  swallowed 
hard.  The  moment  had  come.  Rupert  Ormsby, 
carrying  the  ball,  burst  through  the  throng 
of  Corinthian  spectators,  and  followed  by  his 
team,  ran  out  on  the  field. 

"  Now  then,  fellows ! "  Frank  Windsor  said, 
and  his  team  gathered  round  him  to  receive 
the  last  instructions.  Harry  glanced  out  of  the 


84      HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

corner  of  his  eye  at  the  other  eleven,  who 
were  romping  down  toward  one  of  the  goals. 

Two  masters  in  white  sweaters  stepped  over 
the  rope.  One  of  them  called  the  captains  to 
one  side  and  tossed  a  coin. 

Then  Frank  Windsor  came  running  back 
to  his  team.  "  Our  ball !  "  he  said.  "  Get  ready, 
fellows." 

Pythians  and  Corinthians  were  cheering 
wildly  while  the  two  teams  scattered  to  their 
places.  Then  the  cheer  was  hushed.  Harry 
stamped  on  a  whitewashed  line  nervously. 
His  heart  was  beating  so  hard  that  it  seemed 
to  bother  his  breathing. 

The  umpire  blew  his  whistle,  the  ball  went 
sailing  down  the  field,  and  Harry  rushed  after 
it.  Halleck  of  the  Pythians  charged  down  on 
him  to  put  him  out  of  the  way  of  the  runner 
who  had  caught  the  ball.  But  Harry  dodged 
quite  cleverly,  and  the  next  instant  had  flung 
himself  headlong  and  made  the  first  tackle  of 
the  game.  It  was  a  good  play,  and  when  he 
got  up  and  heard  the  Corinthian  cheering  and 
found  that  he  was  still  all  right,  he  ran  to  his 


HAEDING  OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S      85 

position  at  left  end  with  a  wild  satisfaction 
and  eagerness. 

He  had  been  surprised  himself  at  making 
the  play.  His  success  drove  fright  out  of  his 
breast,  and  in  its  place  came  a  fierce  determi- 
nation. "  I  guess  I  '11  be  good  enough  to  make 
the  school  team  !  I  guess  I  '11  show  everybody 
it  was  all  right  to  make  me  athletic  presi- 
dent!" 

His  opponent,  a  fifth-former  named  An- 
drews, was  a  green  player  also.  Pythians  and 
Corinthians  were  alike  expecting  to  see  some 
ragged  playing  on  that  end  of  the  line.  The 
really  skillful  play  would  be  on  the  other  end, 
where  Rupert  Ormsby  and  Joe  Herrick  were 
matched  against  each  other. 

What  Harry  and  his  opponent,  however, 
lacked  in  experience,  they  made  up  in  zeal  and 
aggressiveness ;  and  they  had  to  be  continually 
warned  by  Mr.  Eldredge,  the  referee,  because 
of  offside  play  and  holding.  Twice  the  Corin- 
thians had  to  forfeit  ten  yards  on  account  of 
Harry's  offending  in  these  respects. 

But  he  was  throwing  all  his  strength  into 


86      HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

the  contest,  and  really  doing  better  than  he 
had  ever  done  in  practice.  To  Frank  Windsor's 
surprise  he  was  having  a  little  the  better  of 
Andrews,  and  the  Corinthian  captain,  when  he 
finally  got  the  ball  on  a  fumble,  made  a  short 
run  round  Harry's  end,  aided  by  the  green 
player's  interference. 

Then  the  Corinthian  crowd  on  the  side  lines 
began  to  throw  up  their  hats  and  yell,  and  say 
to  one  another  that  Harry  was  a  real  "  find," 
after  all,  and  Windsor  had  known  what  he  was 
about  in  putting  him  on  the  eleven. 

Their  enthusiasm  was  brief,  however;  for 
on  the  next  two  plays  there  was  no  gain.  The 
Corinthians  had  to  kick,  and  the  Pythians  ran 
the  ball  back  to  the  middle  of  the  field  —  for 
Joe  Herrick,  who  should  have  got  down  and 
tackled  the  runner,  came  instead  with  an  un- 
expected crash  against  Rupert  Ormsby,  and 
lay  for  an  instant  quite  dazed  by  the  collision. 

When  he  got  up,  he  was  sullenly  thinking 
that  he  owed  Rupert  another  grudge.  It  was 
an  absurd  idea,  but  he  believed  that  Rupert 
had  knocked  him  over  with  unnecessary  pub- 


HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      87 

licity  and  violence,  to  shame  him  before  the 
crowd. 

And  in  the  next  mix-up,  when  Rupert  made 
a  dash  toward  tackle  to  help  in  the  interference 
for  a  "centre"  play,  he  received  a  sudden 
heavy  blow  in  the  side  just  under  the  heart ; 
and  he  went  down  in  the  scrimmage  with  the 
breath  quite  knocked  out  of  him. 

He  got  up  feeling  a  little  weak,  and  walked 
round  for  a  moment  before  going  to  his  place. 

When  he  did  go  to  it,  he  did  not  settle  down 
at  once,  but  stood  for  a  moment  looking  de- 
liberately into  Herrick's  eyes  with  a  faint  smile. 
Foul  play  was  something  that  had  never  been 
countenanced  in  these  school  games,  and  the 
boy  who  had  now  committed  it  was  receiving 
from  his  victim  as  much  surprise  as  scorn. 

The  humiliation  of  having  to  meet  such  a 
look  from  Rupert  and  of  realizing  that  he  had 
not  been  deceived  as  to  the  source  or  intention 
of  the  blow  did  not  improve  Herrick's  temper. 
He  dropped  his  eyes  and  crouched  in  position, 
and  muttered,  "  Oh,  play  ball !  " 

Rupert  made  no  answer.   He  got  into  posi- 


88      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

tion,  and  the  Pythian  quarter-back  gave  a  sig- 
nal that  meant  a  rush  through  right  guard. 

"  Wait ! "  called  Rupert,  straightening  up. 

He  ran  to  the  quarter-back  and  whispered  in 
his  ear,  then  back  to  his  place  again.  And  in 
another  moment  another  signal  was  shouted. 
Then,  as  the  ball  was  snapped  back,  Herrick 
was  hurled  to  one  side  like  a  pillow,  and  when 
he  picked  himself  up  he  found  that  the  Pyth- 
ians  had  made  ten  yards  round  his  end. 

He  took  his  place  in  the  line.  Rupert  stood 
opposite  him,  with  his  eyes  sparkling  and  a 
broad,  good-natured  smile  on  his  face.  And 
Herrick  appreciated  fully  that  Rupert  had 
had  his  revenge. 

The  mild  and  legitimate  character  of  it 
made  it  no  more  tolerable  to  the  victim ;  and 
there  was  a  deep,  smouldering  wrath  in  his 
heart,  a  bitter  resentment  of  Rupert's  greater 
strength,  an  angry  wish  to  get  even  by  taking 
some  sharp  advantage  if  the  opportunity  rose. 

In  the  occasional  breathing  spaces  as  the 
game  went  on  Herrick  set  his  mind  to  de- 
vising some  means  of  getting  even  —  of  com- 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      89 

passing  the  advantage  which  would  enable  him 
to  handle  Rupert  as  he  deserved.  Unfortu- 
nately Joe  Herrick  was  not  a  stupid  boy. 

The  two  teams  were  pretty  evenly  matched. 
The  Corinthian  guards  and  tackles  were 
stronger  than  their  opponents,  and  often  broke 
through  and  prevented  the  end  runs  which 
the  Pythians  had  been  expecting  to  make 
with  their  fleet  half-backs,  and  with  Ormsby 
to  assist  at  right  end. 

When  the  first  half  was  two  thirds  over,  and 
neither  team  had  scored,  and  the  ball  was  still 
in  the  middle  of  the  field,  the  Pythian  sup- 
porters on  one  side,  in  their  orange  and  black 
caps,  and  the  Corinthians  on  the  other,  in 
their  blue  and  white  caps,  seemed  trying  to 
win  the  game  with  cheers. 

Harry  Harding  and  Tom  Andrews  were 
having  an  excited  battle.  Of  the  two  boys, 
Andrews  had  the  less  nervous  temperament. 
As  the  game  progressed  he  became  gradu- 
ally more  roused  to  its  demands. 

Harry  had  thrown  himself  with  all  his 
strength  and  violence  into  it  at  the  outset, 


90      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

and  now  he  was  beginning  to  weaken.  He 
staggered  round  between  plays,  gasping  for 
breath,  and  called  for  water,  and  sometimes 
lay  on  the  ground  after  a  scrimmage  until  the 
full  time  limit  had  expired.  He  had  never 
been  so  used  up  in  practice,  and  after  each 
play  he  would  lie  wondering  how  much  longer 
the  half  was  going  to  last. 

And  all  the  time  Andrews  seemed  to  be 
growing  stronger.  Fortunately,  Perry,  the  Co- 
rinthian left  tackle,  was  able  to  handle  his  op- 
ponent and  give  Harry  some  support  besides. 
And  Harry,  who  was  not  unaware  of  this,  had 
never  felt  more  grateful  to  any  one  in  his  life. 

Then,  suddenly,  the  Pythians  flashed  their 
trick  play.  Rupert  Ormsby  darted  from  his 
position,  and  Andrews  ran  from  his.  They 
met  behind  the  quarter-back,  and  nearly  all 
the  Pythian  eleven  ran  with  Andrews. 

But  it  was  Rupert  who  had  taken  the  ball, 
and  he  and  the  quarter-back  shot  out  round 
Harry's  end,  while  nearly  the  whole  Corin- 
thian team  was  struggling  to  break  up  the 
attack  on  the  other  side  of  the  line. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      91 

Perry  sprang  out  and  upset  the  quarter- 
back, giving  Harry  a  chance  to  make  the 
tackle;  and  Harry  dived  headlong  with  his 
arms  outstretched.  But  he  had  misjudged 
the  distance,  and  missed  Rupert  by  a  yard,  a 
glaring  blunder  for  all  the  Corinthians  to  see. 
And  Rupert  went  racing  on  his  way,  while 
all  the  Pythians  streamed  after  him  down  the 
side  line,  tossing  their  orange  and  black  caps, 
waving  sweaters,  and  shouting :  — 

"  Touchdown  !    Touchdown  ! " 

Harry  picked  himself  up.  He  stood  for  a 
moment,  uncertain  in  his  mortification  what 
to  do.  But  no  one  noticed  him.  Then  he 
began  to  run  in  pursuit  of  the  other  players, 
who  were  now  careering  far  ahead  down  the 
field. 

He  had  not  gone  ten  yards  when  a  wilder 
outburst  of  cheers  from  the  Pythians,  a  sud- 
den universal  up-flinging  of  caps  and  coats 
and  sweaters  announced  to  him  that  it  was 
touchdown  indeed.  The  two  elevens  were 
piled  up  together  near  the  goal. 

Harry  trotted  up  dejectedly  as  the  pile  was 


92      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

being  pulled  apart  by  umpire  and  referee. 
Frank  Windsor  got  out  from  the  bottom,  and 
seeing  Harry,  ran  up  to  him. 

"  That 's  your  fault !  Don't  you  let  them 
get  round  your  end  again  !  "  he  said  sharply. 
Harry  felt  hurt  that  Frank  Windsor  should 
speak  to  him  in  that  way. 

The  ball  had  been  carried  two  feet  beyond 
the  line.  Harris,  the  Pythian  centre,  took  it 
out,  and  Rupert  kicked  the  goal.  Rejoicing 
over  this  achievement  was  expressed  in  the  re- 
iterated, carefully  separated  shout:  "Pyth- 
i-an !  Pyth-i-an  !  Pyth-i-an  !  "  reiterated  with 
indefinite  monotony.  It  grated  on  Harry's 
nerves. 

Frank  Windsor,  with  the  ball  under  his  arm, 
walked  angrily  out  to  the  middle  of  the  field. 
Then  he  called  his  team  round  him. 

"  You  fellows  have  got  to  play  ball ! "  he 
said.  "  You  've  got  to  hold  them  —  and  you  've 
got  to  tie  that  score.  They  had  no  business 
to  get  that  touchdown,  if  you  fellows  out  on 
the  right  had  had  your  eyes  open  and  played 
the  game." 


HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      93 

The  sudden  unexpected  reverse  had  put  him 
into  a  bad  temper,  and  as  he  finished  speaking 
he  gave  Harry  another  withering  look.  He 
kicked  a  hole  in  the  ground  with  his  heel  and 
put  the  ball  down. 

"  Get  to  your  places,"  he  said. 

Then  he  drew  back  a  dozen  feet,  and  when 
the  whistle  sounded,  he  ran  forward  and  sent 
the  ball  flying  far  up  the  field. 

Harry  had  much  the  same  chance  as  at  the 
beginning  of  the  game  to  distinguish  himself 
by  a  diving  tackle.  But  he  was  hurled  to  the 
ground  by  Andrews,  who  came  against  him 
full  tilt  with  a  leather-protected  shoulder. 
And  the  runner  carried  the  ball  back  thirty 
yards  from  where  he  had  received  it. 

As  the  Corinthian  eleven  lined  up  amid  more 
Pythian  shouting,  Frank  Windsor  clapped  his 
hands,  and  cried  desperately  :  — 

"  Stop  them  now !  You  've  got  to  stop  them ! 
Put  some  life  into  it ! " 

Frank  Windsor,  right  half-back,  was  play- 
ing close  to  the  line,  and  giving  his  particular 
attention  to  the  support  of  Joe  Herrick.  Be- 


94      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

tween  them  they  managed  to  stop  two  attempts 
at  end  runs  without  gain. 

After  the  second  effort,  Herrick,  foresee- 
ing that  on  the  next  play  the  Pythians  would 
kick,  ran  round  to  Harry  Harding.  It  was  his 
chance  to  put  into  execution  the  scheme  for 
getting  even  with  Rupert  that  his  cunning 
mind  had  devised. 

"  Andrews  is  always  playing  offside,"  he 
whispered.  "I  can  see  —  all  down  the  line. 
Insist  on  Mr.  Eldredge's  watching  him  —  on 
the  next  play." 

Then  he  ran  back  to  his  position. 

Harry,  exhausted  and  excited,  was  in  a  state 
of  mind  open  to  any  such  suggestion.  He 
cried  out  breathlessly :  — 

"  Wait,  Mr.  Eldredge  !  Mr.  Eldredge,  sir ! " 

"What  is  it?"  said  the  referee. 

"  I  wish  you  'd  watch  Andrews,  please.  I 
wish  you  'd  come  to  this  end  of  the  line  and 
watch  him  a  while.  He 's  always  offside." 

"  I  'm  not ! "  declared  Andrews  indignantly. 

"Will  you  watch  him, please, sir?"  insisted 
Harry. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      95 

"I'll  watch  you  both,"  Mr.  Eldredge  an- 
swered, and  he  stepped  quickly  out  to  that 
end  of  the  line.  "  Come,  play  ball ! "  He  blew 
his  whistle.  The  Pythian  full-back  retreated 
to  catch  the  ball  and  kick. 

It  was  passed  to  him;  he  caught  it  and 
kicked  it  high  and  far.  Andrews  and  Rupert 
Ormsby,  the  two  ends,  plunged  forward  to  rush 
down  the  field  and  make  the  tackle. 

But  as  Rupert  charged  past,  Herrick  thrust 
out  one  foot,  and  with  a  quick  turn  tripped 
him  and  sent  him  headlong.  Then,  without 
waiting,  Herrick  ran  to  get  into  the  scrim- 
mage. 

Eastman,  the  quarter-back,  who  had  caught 
the  ball,  was  struggling  forward,  pushed  and 
pulled  by  three  or  four  others  over  the  pros- 
trate bodies  of  Pythians.  Herrick  hurled  him- 
self into  the  press,  and  in  another  instant  went 
down  with  the  heap. 

When  he  crawled  out  from  it,  he  ran  to 
his  position.  But  Rupert  Ormsby  was  not  there 
to  face  him. 

Herrick  looked  up  the  field,  and  saw  Rupert 


96      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

writhing  on  the  ground,  where  he  had  been 
tripped.  Two  of  the  Pythian  team  were  already 
bending  over  him  ;  a  third  was  running  to  the 
side  line,  calling  for  Doctor  Vincent. 

With  a  sickening  fear  and  remorse  Joe  Her- 
rick hurried  forward  to  see  what  he  had  done. 

Rupert's  face  was  white  and  contracted  in 
his  effort  to  bear  the  pain  in  silence.  His  lips 
were  tightly  clinched,  and  as  he  turned  from 
side  to  side,  his  right  leg,  stretched  out  upon 
the  ground,  lay  motionless.  Joe  Herrick  stood 
by,  afraid  to  speak,  and  Rupert,  glancing  up 
at  him,  smiled  feebly  a  moment,  and  then  turned 
away  his  head. 

Herrick  recognized  in  that  smile  the  same 
expression  with  which  Rupert  had  conveyed 
his  contempt  for  the  fellow  who  would  strike 
a  foul  blow.  Rupert  knew.  Herrick  stood 
by,  heavy-hearted,  and  had  nothing  to  say. 

Doctor  Vincent  brushed  past  him  and  knelt 
beside  the  injured  boy. 

"  The  ankle,"  Rupert  said,  and  the  doctor 
unlaced  the  shoe  on  the  motionless  foot. 

"  Now,  then,"  he  said  gently,  and  he  began 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S      97 

to  draw  off  the  shoe.  Rupert  closed  his  eyes 
and  set  his  teeth  with  a  groan.  Andrews  raised 
his  head  and  shoulders  upon  a  pillow  of 
sweaters. 

"  Never  mind,  old  man,"  he  murmured,  and 
while  Rupert  lay  with  the  perspiration  oozing 
on  his  white  forehead,  Doctor  Vincent  drew 
off  the  shoe. 

Herrick  watched  the  doctor  gently  roll  down 
the  boy's  stocking.  He  saw  the  unnaturally 
twisted  ankle,  and  heard  Doctor  Vincent  say, 
"I'm  afraid  it's  broken,  Rupert;"  and  then 
a  sudden  faintness  assailed  him. 

He  walked  away  from  the  group,  and  kneel- 
ing on  the  ground,  pretended  to  tie  a  shoe- 
string, hanging  his  head  low  until  the  blood 
had  run  into  it  and  revived  him.  When  he 
looked  up,  they  were  carrying  Rupert  from 
the  field. 

Harry  Harding  came  up  to  Herrick  soberly. 
"  How  did  it  happen,  Joe  ?  "  he  asked. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Herrick. 

"What  awfully  hard  luck  for  Rupert!" 
Harry  murmured.  "  Captain  of  the  school  team 


98      HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

and  everything — to  have  a  thing  like  that 
happen  to  him  ! " 

Herrick  made  no  answer. 

Pythians  and  Corinthians  had  alike  been 
sobered  by  the  accident.  Many  of  them  had 
trailed  off  across  the  field  to  find  out  the  extent 
of  Rupert's  injuries,  or,  with  more  morbid 
curiosity,  to  see  how  he  looked  as  he  was  being 
borne  away.  Now  they  were  returning  slowly, 
without  enthusiasm. 

But  the  game  had  to  go  on.  Harris  took 
Rupert's  place  as  captain  of  the  Pythian  team, 
and  summoned  Tom  Albree  to  play  right  end. 
Albree  was  inexperienced  and  weighed  ten 
pounds  less  than  Herrick,  but  to  the  surprise 
of  every  one  he  seemed  from  the  first  to  be 
holding  his  own  against  him. 

Herrick  showed  a  lack  of  enthusiasm  and 
aggressiveness.  He  moved  slowly,  and  when 
Frank  Windsor  shouted  at  him,  "  Wake  up, 
Joe !  Get  into  the  game  ! "  he  made  no  answer. 
Sullenness  showed  in  his  face. 

Five  minutes  after  Rupert  had  left  the 
game  the  Pythians  scored  their  second  touch- 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S      99 

down,  and  in  much  the  same  way  as  they 
had  made  their  first  —  on  a  long  end  run  out- 
side of  Harry  Harding. 

Frank  Windsor  tackled  the  runner  behind 
the  goal-line  and  got  up,  fuming.  He  walked 
over  to  Harry. 

"You'd  better  lay  off,"  he  said.  "Hol- 
der !  "  He  beckoned  with  his  hand. 

As  the  substitute  ran  out  upon  the  field, 
Harry,  smarting  under  the  disgrace,  with  a 
thick  feeling  in  his  throat  and  tears  in  his 
eyes,  walked  to  the  Corinthian  side  line.  He 
put  on  his  sweater  and  seated  himself  deject- 
edly to  watch  the  rest  of  the  game.  He 
thought  of  how  he  had  started  in,  hoping  to 
distinguish  himself,  to  justify  his  election  to 
the  presidency,  even  to  make  the  school  eleven 
—  and  he  could  hardly  keep  back  the  tears. 

The  half  was  soon  over.  The  Corinthian 
players  came  trooping  to  take  up  their  sweat- 
ers. Then  Francis  Stoddard  stepped  out  from 
the  crowd  and  went  up  to  Joe  Herrick,  who 
was  standing  close  in  front  of  Harry. 

" Do  you  know  what  you  are?"  said  Stod- 


100    HAKDING  OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

dard.  There  was  an  intensity  of  feeling  in  his 
suppressed  voice  that  caused  Harry,  overhear- 
ing him,  to  look  up. 

"  No.  What?  "  asked  Herrick,  with  a  scorn- 
ful laugh. 

"  You  're  a  dirty,  cowardly,  tricky  player !  " 
said  Stoddard,  still  in  a  low,  deliberate  voice. 
"You  tripped  Rupert.  You  broke  his  leg. 
You  know  it." 

Herrick  looked  at  Stoddard's  white  face  in 
sullen  silence. 

"You  say  things  like  that,"  he  answered 
at  last,  "  and  you  '11  get  your  head  smashed. 
You  need  n't  think  that  just  because  you  're 
so  puny  you  can  say  anything  without  get- 
ting hurt." 

"  You  ought  to  be  ruled  off  the  field  —  for 
keeps,"  Stoddard  retorted,  and  turned  his 
back. 

Harry  and  three  or  four  others  of  the 
eleven,  who  had  been  listening  in  amazement, 
crowded  up  to  Herrick.  "What's  he  talking 
about?"  "Trip  who  up?"  "You  didn't, 
did  you,  Joe?" 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    101 

"  No,  of  course  not,"  Herrick  answered  im- 
patiently. "  The  kid  's  nutty." 

The  reply  satisfied  the  others;  but  Har- 
ry's thoughts  jumped  back  to  that  moment 
when  Herrick  had  urged  him  to  insist  on 
having  Mr.  Eldredge 's  attention.  The  inci- 
dent suddenly  assumed  a  peculiar  significance ; 
and  Harry  had  but  to  look  again  at  Herrick's 
face  to  feel  certain  that  Stoddard's  charge  was 
true,  and  that  he  himself  had  been  deliber- 
ately used  in  a  plot  to  cripple  Rupert. 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  FTER  denying  Stoddard's  accusation, 
-*--*-  Joe  Herrick  stood  for  a  few  moments 
with  his  hands  tucked  up  under  his  red  sweater, 
staring  with  a  frown  across  the  field  at  the 
athletic  house.  The  other  members  of  the 
eleven  were  mingling  with  the  crowd,  receiv- 
ing the  condolences  and  exhortations  of  their 
supporters,  but  Herrick  stood  alone.  He  had 
few  friends  outside  of  the  Crown,  and  the 
members  of  that  society  who  were  Corinthian 
sympathizers  were  already  clustered  round 
Frank  Windsor,  offering  him  advice,  criticism, 
and  encouragement. 

Harry  Harding  was  so  sore  over  his  failure 
that  he  did  not  join  this  group  or  seek  to  make 
himself  in  any  way  conspicuous.  He  was  sat- 
isfied to  sit  on  the  ground  unobtrusively  with 
the  substitutes.  The  swift  suspicion  of  Her- 
rick which  Stoddard's  words  had  roused  in 
him  had  caused  him  for  a  moment  to  forget 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    103 

his  own  unhappiness ;  and  he  looked  up  at 
the  lonely  figure  with  a  wondering  interest, 
trying  from  the  boy's  face  to  fathom  the  truth. 

Herrick  started  toward  the  athletic  house, 
into  which  Rupert  had  been  carried.  But  as 
he  approached,  an  open  carriage,  drawn  by 
two  horses,  came  spinning  down  the  road  and 
stopped  in  front  of  the  door.  Herrick  and 
some  other  boys  ran  forward  and  stood  by 
while  Rupert,  wrapped  in  blankets,  was  borne 
out  and  placed  gently  on  the  cushions. 

He  looked  pale,  but  he  smiled  and  waved 
a  hand  at  the  group  of  his  friends,  who  re- 
sponded with  a  feeble  cheer  and  cries  of 
"Good  luck,  Rupe!"  "You 're  all  right!" 
Doctor  Vincent  got  in  beside  him  and  the 
carriage  drove  away. 

Herrick  had  said  nothing  and  had  not 
joined  in  the  cheer.  He  walked  with  lagging 
steps  back  to  the  football  field.  About  him 
boys  were  deploring  the  hard  luck  that  had 
befallen  Rupert  and  the  school.  With  a 
broken  leg  he  could  never  get  round  for  the 
game  with  St.  John's;  and  what  was  the 


104    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

school  eleven  to  do  without  its  captain  and 
best  player ! 

Herrick  avoided  talking  with  any  one  ;  he 
strolled  down  to  one  of  the  goals,  where  during 
the  intermission  two  small  boys  were  practi- 
cing drop-kicks,  and  stood  there,  looking  on. 
They  were  very  proud  to  have  such  a  distin- 
guished spectator,  and  did  their  best  to  show 
off  ;  but  he  was  really  paying  no  attention  to 
their  efforts. 

When  the  second  half  began,  it  was  a  dif- 
ferent Herrick  who  went  into  the  game.  The 
listlessness  and  sluggishness  which  had  char- 
acterized his  playing  after  Rupert  had  been 
hurt  had  disappeared  ;  and  Tom  Albree,  who 
during  the  intermission  had  been  flattered  by 
the  Pythians  for  the  way  he  was  standing  up 
against  the  veteran,  was  pushed  to  one  side, 
and  foiled  and  upset  until  in  his  chagrin  he 
was  almost  ready  to  cry. 

"  Herrick 's  playing  the  game  of  his  life  !  " 
one  of  the  Corinthian  substitutes  said  to  Harry 
enthusiastically.  "  I  believe  we  '11  make  this  a 
close  game  yet." 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    105 

"  We  would  n't  if  Rupert  Ormsby  were  still 
in  it,"  Harry  replied. 

There  was  a  bitterness  in  his  answer  that 
seemed  to  denote  a  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
new  vigor  shown  by  his  team.  His  friend  looked 
at  him  in  surprise,  and  supposed  that  Harry's 
bitterness  was  due  to  his  removal  from  the  game. 

Two  long  runs  round  Albree's  end,  a  few 
successful  plunges  through  the  centre,  and 
Frank  Windsor  at  last  carried  the  ball  across 
the  line  for  the  first  Corinthian  touchdown. 
Harry  jumped  up  with  the  other  substitutes, 
and  capered  and  waved  his  arms  and  yelled ; 
but  it  was  really  only  a  regard  for  external 
decency  that  prompted  him.  With  the  heavi- 
ness in  his  thoughts  caused  by  his  own  failure 
and  by  Herrick's  treachery,  and  most  of  all 
by  Rupert's  injury,  there  was  no  room  for 
rejoicing.  He  shouted  again  when  Frank 
Windsor  kicked  the  goal,  and  again  when, 
with  only  one  minute  left  to  play,  the  Corin- 
thians rushed  across  the  line  for  their  second 
touchdown.  Frank  Windsor  kicked  this  sec- 
ond goal,  tying  the  score. 


106    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

It  was  a  tame  outcome,  and  after  the  Co- 
rinthians had  cheered  their  team  for  the  up- 
hill struggle,  they  flocked  away  as  silently  as 
the  Pythians,  who  were  cast  down  by  their 
failure  to  achieve  the  expected  victory. 

With  the  game  over,  the  boys  fell  to  dis- 
cussing among  themselves  the  chief  feature 
of  it — Rupert's  injury  —  and  the  effect  it 
would  have  upon  the  school  eleven. 

Herrick  freed  himself  from  the  three  or 
four  friends  who  came  up  to  congratulate  him 
on  his  playing,  and  turned  to  Harry. 

"  Seen  Stoddard  anywhere  ?  "  he  asked 
abruptly. 

"  Yes,  there  he  is — with  Nat  Belmont." 

"Come  along,"  said  Herrick.  Pulling  Harry 
by  the  arm,  he  led  him  up  behind  Stod- 
dard, and  then  called  in  a  peremptory  voice, 
"  Stoddard !  Look  here  a  moment,  will  you  ?  " 

Francis  turned,  hesitated,  and  then,  leaving 
Belmont,  came  back  slowly  to  meet  the  two 
players. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  asked,  in  an  unfriendly 
voice. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    107 

"I  wanted  to  tell  you  that  you're  right 
and  I  lied  to  you,"  Herrick  said.  "  I  did  trip 
Ormsby.  That 's  how  he  got  hurt.  That 's  all 
I  wanted  to  tell  you.  Now  you  can  go  back 
to  your  friend."  In  spite  of  his  confession 
there  was  a  scornful  defiance  in  his  voice. 

"I  knew  you  were  lying,"  said  Stoddard 
quietly.  "I  saw  you  trip  him." 

He  walked  away  and  rejoined  Belmont. 

"  It  will  be  all  over  the  school  in  half  an 
hour,"  Herrick  said  with  bitterness,  "  and  I 
suppose  nobody  will  believe  that  I  hadn't  any 
thought  of  hurting  him.  I  did  n't  know  it 
was  going  to  break  his  leg." 

Somehow,  at  this  moment,  Harry  liked  his 
friend  better  than  he  had  ever  done.  There 
was  more  than  bitterness  in  Herrick's  voice ; 
there  was  emotion,  even  a  suggestion  of 
tears. 

"  No,  of  course  you  did  n't  know,"  Harry 
said  soothingly.  "  You  only  lost  your  head  " — 

"  No,  I  did  n't  lose  my  head,  either.  I  did 
it  on  purpose.  I  could  n't  handle  him — and 
that 's  the  way  I  thought  I  'd  get  even." 


108    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"  Well,  you  did  n't  mean  to  hurt  him." 

"  I  did  mean  to  play  foul,  though  —  and 
that's  enough  —  for  most  people.  I  don't 
care.  They  can  talk  and  think  what  they 
please.  After  this  I  don't  say  a  word  ahout 
it  to  any  one.  I  guess  I  can  stand  anything 
that 's  coming  to  me." 

Harry  was  silent  a  moment.  "Aren't  you 
going  to  tell  Rupert  ?  "  he  asked. 

"He  knows  already.  I  saw  it  in  his  eye 
when  he  lay  and  looked  up  at  me." 

"Maybe  he  doesn't  know  you're  sorry." 

Herrick  kicked  sullenly  at  the  turf. 
"  Yes,  I  suppose  I  '11  let  him  know  that.  But 
I  won't  let  anybody  else  know  it,"  he  added 
defiantly.  "  I  '11  ignore  it ;  I  don't  care  what 
they  say  or  do.  I  had  to  tell  you  and  that 
kid,  Stoddard — because  I'd  lied  to  you  and 
him." 

Harry  could  say  nothing,  but  he  felt  sor- 
rier for  Joe  Herrick  than  ever  —  and  liked 
him  better. 

In  the  athletic  house,  while  Herrick  was 
dressing,  the  other  players  on  the  team 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    109 

congratulated  him  and  joked  with  him  on 
having  saved  the  day.  Frank  Windsor,  as 
captain,  was  quite  bubbling  over  with  happi- 
ness. He  slapped  Herrick  on  the  back. 

"There's  no  doubt  at  all,  Joe!"  he 
exclaimed  gayly.  "You're  the  hero  of  the 
occasion.  You  're  the  one  that  did  it." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  'm  the  one,"  Herrick  responded 
grimly. 

A  few  hours  later  the  story  of  Herrick's 
foul  play  was  known  throughout  the  school. 

Francis  Stoddard  had  declared  it  in  his 
first  indignation  to  some  of  his  friends.  Then 
he  had  reported  Herrick's  confession  to  Nat 
Belmont  and  others.  By  supper-time  the  boys 
who  had  played  on  the  Corinthian  eleven 
were  confronted  with  the  sensational  charge. 

Frank  Windsor  laid  it  excitedly  before 
Herrick  himself. 

"I  have  nothing  to  say,"  was  Herrick's 
answer.  Then  when  Frank  Windsor  pressed 
him  to  deny  the  charge,  he  said :  — 

"  Ask  Harry  Harding,  if  you  want.  He 
knows." 


110    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Harry  reluctantly  admitted  the  truth,  and 
then  urged  all  the  extenuating  circumstances. 
Herrick  had  not  meant  to  hurt  Rupert ;  he 
had  had  a  long  grudge  against  him  —  which 
he  ought  not  to  have  had,  to  be  sure;  he 
had  been  no  match  for  Rupert  in  the  game ; 
and  he  had  done  what  was  often  done  in  the 
big  college  games  when  the  umpire  was  not 
looking. 

The  members  of  the  eleven  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Crown,  to  whom  Harry  made  this 
appeal,  were  not  disposed  to  judge  Herrick 
harshly.  But  it  was  different  with  the  mass  of 
the  boys.  They  remembered  only  that  Herrick 
had  played  foul,  and  had  crippled  the  captain 
of  the  school  eleven,  and  they  shunned  him. 

He  for  his  part  did  not  at  once  alter  his 
habitual  manner.  He  remained,  as  he  had  al- 
ways been,  proud  and  defiant,  and  his  atti- 
tude did  not  tend  to  make  the  other  boys 
more  lenient. 

But  he  showed  a  different  side  to  Rupert 
Ormsby.  The  day  after  the  game  he  was  taken 
into  the  room  of  the  infirmary  where  the 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    111 

patient  lay  in  bed,  suffering  the  severe  pain 
that  had  developed  from  the  setting  of  the 
broken  bone. 

"  How  are  you  getting  on,  Ormsby  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"  Oh,  pretty  well,  I  guess,  thank  you," 
Rupert  answered  cheerfully. 

Herrick  was  silent  a  moment,  standing  by 
the  bed,  and  Rupert  said,  "  Won't  you  sit 
down?" 

"  Of  course  you  know  how  it  happened," 
Herrick  said,  not  heeding  the  invitation, "  and 
you  must  know,  too,  how  sorry  and  ashamed 
I  feel.  If  I  'd  supposed  it  would  mean  any- 
thing serious  like  this  "  — 

"  Oh,  that 's  all  right."  Rupert  stretched  out 
a  forgiving  hand.  "  We  won't  talk  about  it. 
I  hear  that  you  played  the  game  of  your 
life  the  second  half — and  kept  us  from  pull- 
ing off  the  championship,  after  all." 

"  You  would  n't  have  thought  I  was  doing 
much  if  you  'd  been  opposite  me,"  Herrick 
replied,  embarrassed.  "  Oh,  it 's  good  of  you 
to  try,  Ormsby,  but  you  can't  let  me  down 


112    HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

easy.  I  played  dirty  football,  and  I  hurt  you 
badly,  and  I  've  spoiled  your  last  year  bere  at 
scbool,  and —  well,  I  appreciate  your  being  so 
good  about  it,  but  I  feel  pretty  low  down  just 
the  same." 

Rupert  laughed. 

"  I  used  to  think  myself  you  were  pretty  low 
down,  Herrick,  but  I  don't  any  more.  Now 
I  tell  you  what  you  do  —  to  square  yourself. 
You  've  put  me  out  of  the  game  for  good.  It 's 
up  to  you  to  see  that  the  fellow  who  fills  my 
place  does  it  in  such  a  way  that  St.  Timothy's 
never  knows  the  difference." 

"I  don't  know  how  I'm  to  do  that,"  said 
Herrick  despondently. 

"  Why,  I  '11  tell  you.  You  're  the  best  end  in 
the  school,  and  you  've  got  to  teach  some  other 
fellow  how  to  play  the  other  end.  There  are 
Andrews  and  Holder,  and  even  Harry  Harding 
—  not  much  material  to  draw  from,  but  I  '11 
expect  you  to  turn  out  a  good  end  just  the 
same." 

Herrick  was  silent  for  a  moment.  Then  he 
said:  — 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    113 

"Thank  you  very  much,  Ormsby.  I'll  do 
the  best  I  can.  And — I  hope  you  won't  be 
laid  up  for  long." 

"  I  '11  be  out,  I  guess,  to  see  what  kind  of  an 
end  you  develop  for  the  game  with  St.  John's." 

Herrick  went  away  feeling  an  honest  ambi- 
tion, wishing  to  look  on  fellows  with  a  kindlier 
eye.  But  it  was  pretty  hard  when  he  found 
them  surly  or  suspicious,  and  knew  that  they 
were  commenting  on  him  as  a  "  mucker,"  a 
dirty  player,  a  mean,  tricky  cheat,  who  would 
stop  at  nothing. 

He  was  grateful  to  Harry  Harding,  who 
stood  by  him,  and  to  the  other  fellows  in  the 
Crown,  who  were  still  friendly ;  but  he  knew 
that  throughout  the  school  the  sentiment 
toward  him  was  that  of  Francis  Stoddard, 
unforgiving  and  contemptuous. 

Rupert  sent  a  message  to  Frank  Windsor, 
asking  him  to  take  charge  of  the  candidates 
for  the  school  eleven  and  act  temporarily  as 
captain;  and  accordingly  Windsor  posted  a 
notice  the  next  day,  announcing  the  first  prac- 
tice. 


114    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

"  Ormsby  says  that  you  '11  coach  the  ends," 
Windsor  said  to  Herrick,  as  they  walked  down 
to  the  athletic  house  together ;  and  Herrick 
felt  stirred  by  this  formal  recognition  of  his 
responsibility. 

Out  of  all  the  candidates  who  presented 
themselves,  Windsor  picked  two  elevens.  They 
began  to  play  without  any  clear  understanding 
as  to  who  besides  Windsor  was  in  authority. 
Harry  Harding  was  on  one  end,  opposing  Nat 
Belmont,  a  hot-headed,  nervous  boy,  who  was 
trying  his  best  to  be  "aggressive,"  but  who 
knew  very  little  about  football.  Herrick  saw 
Harry  break  past  him  and  make  a  tackle. 
Then  on  the  next  line-up  Herrick  ran  in. 

"  Here,  Belmont,"  he  said,  "wait  till  I  show 
you  how  to  block  your  man  off  "  — 

But  Belmont  was  already  angered  by  his 
failure  and  excited  by  the  game.  He  turned 
on  Herrick  with  resentment  for  such  interfer- 
ence. 

"  Thanks.  I  guess  I  don't  need  your  help," 
he  said. 

Herrick  bit  his  lip,  but  controlled  himself. 


HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    115 

"  I  just  wanted  to  show  you  "  — 

"  Yes,  I  know  there  are  some  things  you 
can  show  me  —  but  I  'd  rather  not  learn 
them !  "  Belmont  retorted  scornfully. 

Herrick  turned.    "  Windsor !  "  he  called. 

Frank  Windsor  came  running  over  from  the 
other  side  of  the  line. 

"  Will  you  please  explain  to  Behnont  that 
Ormsby  has  asked  me  to  coach  the  ends  ? " 
Herrick  said. 

"  What 's  the  matter  with  Belmont  ?  Say, 
Belmont,  you  do  as  you  're  told.  Herrick 's 
running  the  ends,  and  you  pay  attention  to 
him.  Now  mind." 

Windsor  went  back  to  his  position,  clap- 
ping his  hands  and  crying,  "  Play  ball ! " 

Belmont  submitted  angrily.  He  believed 
that  Windsor  was  managing  things  to  suit 
himself,  and  that  he  had  given  authority  to 
Joe  Herrick  because  he  was  a  fellow  member 
of  the  Crown.  He  did  not  believe  that  Ru- 
pert Ormsby  had  ever  delegated  any  such  au- 
thority to  the  fellow  who  had  meanly  tripped 
him  and  broken  his  leg.  He  obeyed  Herrick's 


116    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

orders  and  straightened  up  to  hear  his  criti- 
cism and  advice,  but  he  listened  sullenly,  and 
Herrick  was  conscious  of  the  boy's  resent- 
ment. He  exercised  his  authority  as  little  as 
possible.  He  did  not  go  shouting  and  clamor- 
ing round  like  Frank  Windsor,  who  had  a 
great  idea  of  the  inspiriting  quality  in  mere 
noise,  and  he  did  not  jump  into  a  scrimmage 
and  begin  scolding  and  denouncing  whenever 
somebody  made  a  bad  play. 

It  pleased  him  afterward  when  Harry  Hard- 
ing came  up  to  him  and  said :  — 

"  You  know,  Joe,  you  're  a  mighty  good 
coach !  I  believe  I  could  learn  something 
about  the  game  if  I  could  have  you  always 
looking  after  me." 

"  Thanks ! "  Herrick  answered,  and  he 
added,  a  little  sadly,  "  I  guess  maybe  you  're 
the  only  one  that  feels  that  way." 

Nat  Belmont  certainly  was  unsympathetic. 
After  the  practice,  still  smarting  under  the 
humiliation  of  being  coached  by  a  fellow 
whom  he  despised,  and  indignant  over  the 
way  in  which  Frank  Windsor  was  managing 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    117 

affairs  in  the  interests  of  the  Crown,  he  went 
to  the  infirmary. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  room  where  Rupert 
sat,  propped  up  by  a  window,  rapping  on  the 
pane  and  waving  a  hand  at  the  boys  who  hap- 
pened to  be  walking  past.  Belmont  started  in 
at  once  upon  his  grievance. 

"  Oh,  hold  on ! "  Rupert  interrupted  him, 
with  a  laugh.  "  Don't  be  so  hard  on  'em, 
Nat.  It's  all  my  fault.  I  asked  Frank 
Windsor  to  run  the  eleven,  and  I  particularly 
asked  Joe  Herrick  to  coach  the  ends." 

"  Then  if  you  did  that,  Rupe,  I  've  got  to 
tell  you  what  I  suppose  you  have  n't  heard 
about  Herrick  "  — 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  've  heard  it.  You  mean  about 
his  tripping  me.  I  heard  it  from  him.  He 
came  and  told  me.  And  I  have  reasons  for 
thinking  better  of  Joe  Herrick  than  I  ever  did 
before.  You  let  him  coach  you,  Nat,  and  see 
if  you  don't  think  better  of  him,  too." 

Nat  Belmont  was  nonplussed.  He  did  not 
like  to  surrender  his  grievance ;  but  he  was 
not  an  ill-natured  boy,  and  when  he  was  given 


118    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

time  to  think,  he  had  no  tendency  to  be  un- 
just. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "if  you  feel  that  way 
about  it,"  he  laughed  as  he  rose  to  go,  "I 
guess  I'll  have  to  tell  Herrick  I  made  a 
mistake." 

He  did  so,  with  an  added  word  of  apology. 

"Oh,  it's  all  right,"  said  Herrick.  "I 
don't  blame  you."  And  both  this  speech 
and  the  embarrassed  manner  of  it  surprised 
and  touched  Belmont.  He  went  round  telling 
fellows  about  the  change  in  Herrick,  and  by 
his  enthusiasm  trying  to  repair  the  injury  that 
he  had  done. 

Francis  Stoddard,  however,  ordinarily  the 
gentlest  and  mildest  of  boys,  remained  cynical. 

"  Oh,  he  knows  he  must  show  a  decent  side 
to  make  up  for  what  he  did,"  Stoddard  de- 
clared. "  It 's  just  like  Rupert  to  forgive  him 
so  easily ;  but  I  don't." 

Belmont,  however,  held  to  his  opinion  of 
Herrick's  sincerity,  and  a  thing  happened 
which  made  him  think  better  of  Frank 
Windsor,  too.  At  a  meeting  of  the  candidates 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    119 

for  the  eleven,  Frank  read  a  letter  from 
Rupert,  tendering  his  resignation  and  express- 
ing the  feeling  that  since  he  himself  could  not 
play,  some  one  else  should  be  chosen  captain. 

"  When  he  told  me  this,"  Frank  continued, 
"  I  did  n't  say  anything  except  that  I  'd  lay 
the  matter  before  you  fellows.  But  now  I  say 
that  we  all  refuse  to  accept  Onnsby's  resigna- 
tion. He  can  be  our  captain  even  if  he  can't 
stir  from  his  room.  He  can  advise  us  and  help 
us,  and  I  say  that  we  tell  him  so  and  refuse 
to  let  him  resign." 

"  Second  the  motion,"  said  Joe  Herrick,  in 
his  gruffest  voice. 

The  refusal  to  accept  Rupert's  resignation 
was  unanimous.  Nat  Belmont  had  to  admit 
that  it  was  generous  of  Windsor  to  have  pro- 
posed this  action,  for  if  it  had  not  been  taken, 
he  would  undoubtedly  have  been  elected  Ru- 
pert's successor. 

When  Belmont  reported  Herrick's  act  in 
seconding  the  motion,  Francis  Stoddard  had 
only  a  sneering  comment :  "  Trying  to  square 
himself  with  the  crowd." 


120    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"  Oh,  well,"  Belmont  answered,  "  when  a 
fellow 's  trying  to  be  decent,  why  can't  you 
let  him?" 

Stoddard  flushed  at  the  reproof,  and  re- 
frained thenceforth  from  merciless  remarks. 
As  the  days  went  by  and  he  had  a  chance  to 
observe  personally  the  improvement  in  Her- 
rick's  demeanor,  and  to  come  a  little  more 
often  under  the  influence  of  Rupert's  tolerant 
attitude,  his  hostility  relaxed ;  and  at  last  one 
day,  meeting  Herrick  alone  in  the  corridor  of 
the  dormitory,  he  stopped  on  a  sudden  im- 
pulse, and  said :  — 

"  I  have  n't  been  treating  you  very  decently; 
I  'm  sorry. 

Herrick  looked  surprised  and  then  embar- 
rassed. 

"Well,"  he  said,  after  a  moment,  "I  wasn't 
blaming  you  much." 

After  that  they  met  and  walked  and  talked 
together  without  much  constraint. 

Meanwhile  Herrick  had  been  working  faith- 
fully to  fill  the  responsibility  with  which  Rupert 
had  charged  him.  He  had  picked  on  Holder 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    121 

as  the  most  promising  player  for  the  vacant 
end  position,  and  day  after  day  he  coached 
him  patiently,  and  tried  to  put  "  spirit "  into 
him.  It  was  "  spirit "  that  Holder  seemed  to 
lack ;  he  was  naturally  rather  slow.  Under  this 
careful  tuition  he  was  improving,  and  Herrick 
seemed  himself,  through  teaching,  to  learn. 
When  he  went  into  the  practice  he  played 
better  than  he  had  ever  done  before.  Harry 
Harding  and  Andrews  were  having  a  close 
race  for  the  position  of  first  substitute;  Nat 
Belmont  had  been  left  behind.  The  team  was 
working  together  harmoniously.  Frank  Wind- 
sor was  doing  better  as  Rupert's  representative 
than  he  had  done  as  captain  of  the  Corin- 
thians, and  he  seemed  to  be  better  liked.  Once 
more  a  feeling  of  confidence  began  to  prevail 
throughout  the  school.  The  boys  began  to 
say  that  even  without  Rupert  they  could  beat 
St.  John's. 

It  was  rumored  that  Rupert,  lying  in  bed, 
had  devised  some  startling  tricks  which  were 
to  be  the  destruction  of  the  enemy,  and  that 
the  daily  council  which  the  eleven  held  in  his 


122    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

room  was  given  chiefly  to  the  rehearsal  of 
these  plays. 

"He's  surely  captain  just  the  same  as  he 
always  was,"  Frank  Windsor  said  one  day,  on 
emerging  from  one  of  these  conferences. 

And  when,  on  the  day  of  the  great  game, 
the  two  elevens,  St.  John's  in  blue  jerseys,  St. 
Timothy's  in  red,  ran  out  upon  the  field,  and 
the  cheers  for  both  rose  in  mad  excitement, 
challenging  one  another,  gayly  defiant,  the 
enthusiasm  of  even  that  moment  was  less  than 
that  which  burst  forth  an  instant  later.  For 
an  open  carriage,  in  which  sat  Rupert  Ormsby 
and  another,  swept  out  from  the  woods  road, 
and  at  once  the  whole  line  of  St.  Timothy's 
spectators  broke  and  rushed,  shouting,  to  meet 
it  —  rushed  and  lined  up  again  at  the  end  of 
the  field  behind  the  goal-posts,  where  the  car- 
riage stopped. 

"  Rah,  rah,  rah,  Ormsby  ! "  they  shouted 
again  and  again. 

It  was  the  first  time  since  his  accident  that 
Rupert  had  been  outdoors,  and  he  looked  on 
his  friends  now  with  his  face  flushed  and  his 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    123 

eyes  shining.  He  laughed,  and  hoisting  a 
crutch  in  the  air,  waved  it  in  acknowledgment 
of  their  cheers. 

The  boy  sitting  heside  him  in  the  carriage  — 
a  boy  with  a  dark,  handsome  face,  and  older 
than  Rupert  —  looked  out  on  the  crowd  and 
laughed  too. 

" It's  Phil  Ward !"  exclaimed  Harry  Hard- 
ing, who  in  his  football  clothes  had  run  over 
to  see  the  excitement.  He  turned  to  Bruce 
Watson.  "It's  Phil  Ward!  He  was  here  at 
school  with  Clark.  I  did  n't  know  that  Rupe 
knew  him  !  He  was  quite  a  fellow  in  college, 
too.  He  and  Clark  roomed  together  always. 
He  used  to  play  on  Clark's  team." 

The  game  was  about  to  begin.  The  boys 
ran  back  along  the  side  line,  and  the  two  elev- 
ens separated  to  their  places. 


CHAPTER  VII 

rilHE  chief  reliance  of  St.  John's  was  on 
-*-  their  full-back,  Hall  Durham,  who  could 
outpunt  by  fifteen  yards  any  one  on  the  St. 
Timothy's  team.  The  St.  Timothy's  ends  and 
backs  had  been,  therefore,  specially  prepared 
to  meet  a  kicking  game ;  theirs  was  the  chief 
responsibility  for  making  it  ineffective. 

Eastman,  the  quarter  -  back,  and  Frank 
Windsor  had  given  a  large  part  of  each  day's 
practice  to  catching  punts.  They  were  not 
likely  to  muff  or  fumble,  but  whether  they 
would  be  able  to  run  with  the  ball  after  catch- 
ing it  would  depend  entirely  on  the  defensive 
work  of  the  two  ends.  If  this  proved  inferior, 
St.  Timothy's  chances  would  be  slim ;  simply 
by  kicking,  St.  John's  could  force  her  oppo- 
nents back  and  back —  and  it  was  known  that 
Durham  was  almost  as  good  at  kicking  goals 
from  the  field  as  he  was  at  punting. 

As  soon  as  they  got  the  ball,  St.  John's 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    125 

started  in  to  test  the  efficiency  of  their  kicking 
game.  Durham  sent  a  splendid  punt,  high  and 
far ;  but  Holder  and  Herrick  managed  to  delay 
the  opposing  ends  just  enough  to  give  little 
Eastman  a  good  start,  and  to  enable  him  to 
dodge  the  first  flying  tackle. 

He  ran  the  ball  back  twenty  yards,  and  there 
was  great  cheering  from  the  St.  Timothy's 
side,  where  the  result  of  this  first  kick  had 
been  awaited  with  apprehension. 

The  two  boys  in  the  carriage  behind  the 
northern  goal-posts  watched  the  play  with  keen 
eyes,  and  commented  on  it  from  time  to  tune. 

"  That  fellow  who 's  in  your  place  handles 
his  man  pretty  cleverly,"  said  the  older  boy. 

"  Oh,  Joe  Herrick !  Yes,  he 's  all  right. 
It 's  the  other  end  that  I  think  may  weaken. 
Holder 's  a  green  player,  but  he 's  doing  well 
so  far.  How  do  you  think  they  compare  with 
your  old  eleven,  Phil  ?  " 

Ward  smiled.  "After  five  years  it's  pretty 
hard  to  say.  If  you  were  in  the  game,  Rupe, 
I  might  see  somebody  who  was  the  equal  of 
Clark  Harding,  but  I  don't  just  now." 


126    HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Rupert  laughed.  "See  anybody  as  good  as 
Philip  Ward?"  he  asked  teasingly. 

"  Oh,  about  eleven.  Fourth  down !  Neither 
side  seems  to  gain  much  by  rushing  with  the 
ball" 

"  Durham 's  going  to  kick  again,"  Rupert 
predicted,  and  they  both  looked  up  the  field 
in  silent  anxiety.  The  next  moment  there  was 
a  shout  from  St.  John's,  and  Rupert  uttered 
an  exclamation  of  chagrin. 

"  Threw  Windsor  back  a  yard.  Holder  let 
his  man  through  like  a  shot ! "  he  muttered. 
"Now  if  we  aren't  able  to  gain,  and  have 
to  kick  "  — 

He  said  it  all  so  moodily,  resting  his  chin  on 
his  hand,  that  the  older  boy,  glancing  at  him, 
smiled.  A  moment  later,  with  St.  Timothy's 
shouting,  Rupert's  face  cleared.  Windsor  had 
made  a  twenty-yard  rush  through  the  centre. 

"That  puts  us  out  of  danger — tempora- 
rily," Rupert  said.  "  But  I  'm  afraid  that  Hol- 
der will  make  more  such  mistakes." 

"  Is  he  the  best  you  've  got  ?  Who 's  his 
substitute?" 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    127 

"  Harry  Harding." 

"Oh!    Clark's  brother?" 

"Yes." 

"  I  remember  seeing  him  once ;  but  he 
used  to  be  a  light  little  thin  kid." 

"  He  's  not  very  big  now." 

"  Is  he  as  good  a  fellow  as  Clark  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know.  I  never  knew  Clark.  But 
Harry's  a  mighty  good  fellow.  If  it's  safe 
I  'd  like  to  put  him  in  the  last  few  minutes  of 
the  game.  It  would  please  him  so  much." 

"  He  ought  to  be  a  good  fellow,"  Ward 
said  musingly.  "  Clark  thinks  everything  of 
him,  and  from  what  I  hear  has  done  every- 
thing for  him.  I  guess,  Rupe,  that  if  you  were 
to  put  him  in  for  a  few  minutes,  being  a 
Harding,  he  'd  make  good." 

"He'll  probably  have  a  chance,"  Rupert 
answered. 

Then,  because  St.  Timothy's  had  the  ball 
and  seemed  to  be  making,  little  by  little,  pro- 
gress up  the  field,  the  talk  between  the  two 
boys  ceased,  and  they  followed  the  game 
with  a  more  intense  interest.  Up  to  the  St. 


128    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

John's  thirty-yard  line  —  so  far  and  no  far- 
ther did  St.  Timothy's  work  their  toilsome 
way.  Then  they  lost  the  ball,  and  again  Dur- 
ham kicked. 

The  object  of  the  St.  John's  strategy  be- 
came more  apparent  to  Rupert  and  Ward. 
Resting  during  the  first  half  on  a  defensive 
game,  they  hoped  to  tire  out  their  opponents. 
Then  in  the  second  half  they  would  open  up 
their  hitherto  unrevealed  attack.  And  as  the 
game  went  on,  although  the  St.  Timothy's  goal 
was  never  seriously  threatened,  Rupert's  face 
grew  anxious.  When  the  half  ended,  neither 
side  had  scored. 

The  St.  John's  eleven  trotted  off  the  field 
and  entered  the  athletic  house,  which  had  been 
hospitably  placed  at  their  disposal.  Instead  of 
following  them,  the  St.  Timothy's  players 
wrapped  themselves  in  the  blankets  that  the 
substitutes  flung  about  them,  and  then,  accom- 
panied by  the  great  mass  of  their  supporters, 
went  up  to  the  carriage  in  which  their  captain 
sat.  Then  Frank  Windsor  turned  and  ad- 
dressed the  crowd. 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    129 

"Move  back,  all  you  fellows!"  he  said. 
"  Nobody  but  the  eleven  and  the  substitutes 
wanted  here.  Everybody  else  get  back." 

He  waved  his  arms,  and  three  or  four  other 
players  stepped  out  and  began  waving  their 
arms,  until  the  crowd  had  retreated,  abashed. 
Then  the  team  gathered  close  about  the  car- 
riage. 

"  You  're  doing  well,  fellows,"  Rupert  said 
to  them,  his  eyes  shining  with  enthusiasm. 
"  You  're  holding  'em  mighty  well  —  and  you 
have  n't  shown  up  any  of  your  trick  plays 
yet.  Tilden,  your  man  was  getting  the  jump 
on  you  there  the  last  few  minutes.  You  want 
to  be  a  little  quicker;  but  that  was  good,  the 
way  you  broke  through  on  that  last  kick. 
Holder,  try  to  stiffen  up  your  end  a  bit.  Some- 
times it  was  pretty  ragged ;  but  you  're  coming 
up  to  the  scratch  all  right." 

So  he  went  down  the  list  of  players,  criticis- 
ing them  when  it  was  necessary,  and  then  salv- 
ing the  criticism  with  some  appreciative  word, 
applauding  enthusiastically  without  criticism 
when  he  could,  and  making  each  one  in  turn 


130    HAKDING  OF   ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

feel,  through  some  quality  in  his  voice  and  the 
look  in  his  eyes,  that  the  interest  with  which  he 
had  been  watching  the  player  was  not  merely 
that  of  a  captain,  but  also  that  of  a  friend. 

When  he  had  finished  his  comments,  he 
laid  his  hand  on  his  companion's  arm. 

"  Phil  Ward  here  ought  to  be  able  to  give 
you  some  points,"  he  said  to  the  team.  "  He 
played  on  St.  Timothy's  five  years  ago, — 
with  Clark  Harding  and  Skilton  and  those 
fellows, — and  you  all  know  he's  had  two 
years  on  a  'varsity  team  since.  Phil,  won't 
you  talk  to  them?" 

Ward  laughed,  and  putting  his  hand  on 
Rupert's  shoulder,  stood  up.  He  was  a  tall, 
handsome,  dark-faced  fellow,  with  black  eye- 
brows that  met  above  his  nose.  His  expression 
seemed  determined,  and  might  sometimes  be 
severe,  but  now  there  was  a  pleasant  twinkle 
in  his  eyes. 

"I  haven't  much  to  say,"  he  answered, 
"  after  hearing  your  captain  talk.  He  seems 
to  have  covered  the  ground.  I  thought  you 
fellows  played  mighty  well  that  half.  I  don't 


l..\-  pi-rmissKiii  ill  Tin'  Youth's  Companion 

THERE   WAS   A   PLEASANT  TWINKLE   IN   HIS  EYES 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    131 

know  just  how  you  could  have  played  better. 
But  —  just  the  same,  it  was  n't  good  enough. 
This  second  half  you've  got  to  do  better. 
Every  one  among  you  must  be  a  little  better 
than  himself.  Then  that  way,  all  together, 
you  can  make  up  for  not  having  your  captain 
in  the  game." 

He  patted  Rupert's  shoulder  and  smiled,  and 
the  eleven  and  the  substitutes  clapped  in  a  way 
that  showed  they  had  taken  his  speech  to  heart. 
When  he  had  sat  down,  Harry  Harding,  trail- 
ing his  red  blanket,  came  round  behind  the 
carriage  and  up  to  the  side  on  which  Ward  was. 

"How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Ward?"  he  said 
shyly.  "  I  guess  you  don't  remember  me.  I  'm 
Harry  Harding." 

"  Of  course  I  remember  you ! "  cried  Ward, 
reaching  out  his  hand.  "  You  've  grown  a  good 
deal,  but  I  'd  know  you  anywhere  for  Clark's 
brother.  What  do  you  hear  from  him  ?  " 

"  The  last  letter  I  had  was  written  from 
Cairo  a  month  ago,"  said  Harry.  "He  and 
Archer  Sands  were  going  up  the  Nile." 

"  I  've  heard  from  him  since  then,  I  think. 


132    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

I  '11  see  you  later  and  give  you  his  letter.  I 
guess  they  're  wanting  you  now." 

The  St.  John's  team  was  coming  out  of  the 
athletic  house.  It  was  time  to  be  returning  to 
the  field. 

The  second  half  revealed  on  both  sides  a  less 
cautious  and  conservative  style  of  play,  and 
was,  by  contrast  with  what  had  gone  before, 
sensational. 

At  the  beginning,  little  Eastman  caught  the 
ball  on  the  kick-off,  and  ran  it  sixty  yards  down 
the  field,  dodging  and  squirming  out  of  the 
very  arms  of  the  St.  John's  tacklers;  and  St. 
Timothy's  went  delirious  with  joy. 

Then  the  next  moment  the  hero  of  this  bril- 
liant run,  too  excited  perhaps  by  his  achieve- 
ment, fumbled  the  ball,  and  a  St.  John's 
player  fell  on  it.  St.  John's  lined  up  in  a  for- 
mation that  bewildered  St.  Timothy's,  quickly 
executed  a  trick,  and  sent  their  left  half-back 
and  left  tackle  skirting  along  one  side  of  the 
field  for  a  forty-yard  run. 

They  lined  up  quickly  and  tried  the  trick 
again ;  but  Herrick's  mind  had  solved  it,  and 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    133 

he  burst  into  the  core  of  the  formation  and 
threw  the  runner  back  for  a  loss. 

Then  St.  John's  kicked,  and  St.  Timothy's 
returned  the  kick ;  and  back  and  forth  in  the 
middle  of  the  field  the  two  elevens  struggled. 
The  time  slipped  by.  Rupert  Ormsby  kept 
glancing  nervously  at  his  watch. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  in  a  voice  that  was  un- 
decided between  relief  and  disappointment, 
"they're  holding  'em,  anyway.  And  there 
can't  be  more  than  five  minutes  left." 

St.  John's  tried  a  mass  play  against  the  St. 
Timothy's  centre,  and  suddenly,  while  the  two 
elevens  were  jammed  together,  the  ball  rolled 
jauntily,  unconcernedly,  out  from  the  scrim- 
mage. 

Joe  Herrick,  pushing  on  the  outside,  saw  it 
first,  made  a  leap,  and  caught  it  up  from  the 
ground.  The  next  moment,  with  it  tucked 
under  his  left  arm,  he  was  racing  up  the  field, 
up  toward  the  carriage  in  which  Ward  and 
Rupert  Ormsby  sat. 

The  St.  Timothy's  spectators  rushed  yell- 
ing, along  the  side  line.  Ward  stood  up  in 


134    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

the  carriage,  crying,  "  Come  on  !  Come  on  ! " 
Rupert  hoisted  a  crutch,  and  shouted  while  he 
•waved  it. 

But  swift  runner  though  Herrick  was,  the 
St.  John's  quarter-back  was  swifter,  and  head- 
ing diagonally  up  the  field  toward  him,  he 
gradually  overhauled  him,  and  at  last,  fifteen 
yards  from  the  goal-line,  hurled  himself  head- 
long through  the  air  and  dragged  Herrick 
down. 

It  was  the  most  daring  and  the  prettiest 
tackle  of  the  day ;  and  at  that  the  St.  John's 
spectators  swept  up  the  field,  swinging  their 
caps  and  flags  and  cheering  as  defiantly  as  St. 
Timothy's  were  shouting  joyously. 

The  St.  John's  captain  rushed  about  among 
his  men,  slapping  their  backs,  imploring  them 
to  stand  firm.  Frank  Windsor  was  likewise 
going  from  one  to  another  of  his  team,  whis- 
pering what  might  be  the  magic  word. 

Then  the  teams  lined  up.  Eastman,  the 
quarter-back,  had  an  inspiration. 

"  Fellows,"  he  said,  in  a  sharp  voice, "  Rupe's 
waiting  for  you  just  beyond  the  line." 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    135 

Then  he  stopped  and  gave  the  signal.  St. 
Timothy's  charged  forward  and  made  a  gain 
of  three  yards,  and  there  was  more  wild  shout- 
ing, and  again  Rupert  was  waving  his  crutch. 

"  You  got  near  him  that  time !  "  cried  East- 
man, as  the  elevens  lined  up.  "Mind,  he's 
waiting  for  you  !  " 

This  time  the  attack  was  so  desperate  and 
concerted  that  it  made  ten  yards,  and  the  St. 
Timothy'  s  cheer  did  not  cease  even  when  the 
players  got  to  their  feet,  but  continued  and 
continued,  the  leaders  of  it  having  worked 
themselves  into  a  frenzy. 

And  now,  with  only  two  yards  separating 
them  from  the  goal-line,  with  Ward  standing 
up  in  the  carriage  and  shouting,  and  Rupert 
gesticulating  wildly  with  arm  and  crutch, 
Eastman  made  himself  heard :  — 

"  You  're  going  to  shake  hands  with  Rupe 
after  this  play  !  " 

He  shouted  the  signal  that  meant  Perry  at 
right  tackle  was  to  open  up  a  hole. 

And  Perry  responded  to  the  call.  He 
charged  against  his  opponent  furiously,  and 


136    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

in  the  same  instant  Dennison,  the  fifth-form 
half-back,  carrying  the  ball  under  his  arm, 
came  plunging  through,  and  fell  across  the 
goal-line. 

While  the  St.  Timothy's  spectators  cheered 
and  pranced  and  waved  their  flags,  the  players 
slowly  got  to  their  feet.  The  referee  came  up 
and  looked  at  Dennison,  who  still  lay,  em- 
bracing the  ball,  a  few  inches  across  the  line. 
The  referee  nodded,  and  then  Dennison  and 
the  St.  John 's  player,  who  had  been  hugging 
him  desperately,  rose. 

The  St.  John 's  team  walked  disconsolately 
to  the  goal  and  ranged  themselves  under  it, 
panting,  with  downcast  heads.  The  St.  Timo- 
thy's players  were  leaping  and  slapping  one 
another  and  tumbling  about  on  the  field. 

Rupert  Ormsby  lay  back  in  the  carriage 
with  a  serene  smile  of  contentment.  Then  he 
thought  of  something,  and  sat  up. 

"  Phil,"  he  said  to  his  companion,  "  don't 
you  want  to  go  down  there  and  tell  Harry 
Harding  for  me  that  he 's  to  go  on  in  Holder's 
place?" 


HARDING  OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S    137 

Ward  alighted  from  the  carriage  and  ran  to 
where  Harry  was  standing  with  a  group  of 
the  substitutes.  He  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder. 

"  Ormsby  says  you  're  to  take  Holder's  place 
now,"  he  said. 

"  Oh,  he  does !  "  Harry  cried,  in  a  voice 
quivering  with  excitement  and  delight.  He 
tossed  off  his  blanket,  into  the  arms  of  two 
fellows  who  were  already  congratulating  him. 
"Right  now?" 

"  Yes,"  Ward  answered,  with  a  laugh.  "And 
go  in  and  play  like  Clark." 

Dennison  was  holding  the  ball  and  Perry 
was  getting  ready  to  kick  the  goal  when  Harry 
ran  out  on  the  field.  He  said  a  word  to  Frank 
Windsor  and  turned  to  Holder,  who  shook 
hands  with  him  cheerfully  and  then  walked 
over  to  the  line  of  applauding  spectators. 
Their  applause  rose  in  another  moment  to  a 
great  height  when  Perry  kicked  the  goal. 

"  And  only  one  minute  more  to  play ! " 
Ward  said  to  Rupert,  as  he  climbed  again  into 
the  carriage.  "  That 's  what  one  of  the  lines- 
men told  me.  Oh,  we  Ve  got  'em  licked ! " 


138    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

In  the  remaining  minute  St.  John's  secured 
possession  of  the  ball  just  once,  and  tried  a 
run  round  Harry's  end.  He  hurled  himself 
recklessly  into  the  interference,  and  by  a  com- 
bination of  luck  and  judgment  got  his  arms 
round  the  half-back  who  was  carrying  the 
ball,  and  dragged  him  down  before  he  had 
gained  a  yard. 

A  moment  later,  as  the  elevens  were  lining 
up,  the  timekeeper  blew  his  whistle.  Harry 
had  the  distinction  of  making  the  last  tackle 
of  the  game. 

After  a  cheer  for  their  defeated  opponents, 
who  returned  it  bravely,  the  St.  Timothy's 
eleven  rushed  up  the  field  and  gathered  close 
beside  Rupert's  carriage.  Behind  them,  shout- 
ing and  tossing  their  flags,  assembled  the 
proud,  victorious  non-combatants.  Frank 
Windsor  stood  up  on  the  step  of  the  carriage. 

"  Now  then,  fellows,"  he  said,  swinging  one 
arm  enthusiastically  —  and  at  that  he  lost  his 
balance  and  slipped  from  the  step  to  the 
ground,  and  the  crowd  laughed. 

But  the  next  moment  he  had  climbed  up 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    139 

again,  as  earnest  as  ever.  "  Now  then,  fellows, 
before  you  go  in  to  dress,  one  cheer  —  three 
times  three  —  for  Captain  Ormsby  !  One,  two, 
three ! " 

Every  St.  Timothy's  boy  joined  in  that 
cheer.  Rupert  turned  red  and  laughed,  and 
then  said  something  to  Ward.  And  when  the 
cheer  was  finished,  Ward  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  Fellows,"  he  said,  "  I  say  we  cheer  every 
man  who  played  on  the  team  to-day.  First, 
left  end" —  He  glanced  down  inquiringly  at 
Rupert,  who  said,  "  Herrick." 

"  Three  times  three  for  Herrick  ! "  cried 
Ward ;  and  so  he  went  down  the  list  of  play- 
ers, and  the  St.  Timothy's  crowd  stayed  and 
helped  him  cheer  them  all,  and  last  of  all 
Harry  Harding. 

Then  the  gathering  broke  up.  The  members 
of  the  eleven  ran  to  the  athletic  house ;  the 
other  boys  formed  in  column,  arm  in  arm,  and 
marched  away  toward  the  school,  whistling 
the  school  song.  And  the  St.  John's  boys 
who  had  come  to  see  the  game  went  strag- 
gling away  very  quietly. 


140    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"Well,"  said  Phil  Ward  to  Rupert,  "you 
did  it,  and  I  congratulate  you." 

"  Did  nothing  !  "  Rupert  answered  ;  and 
Ward  suddenly  recognized  that  the  boy,  in 
spite  of  all  his  happiness  over  the  triumph  of 
his  eleven,  was  having  at  this  moment  his  own 
private  sorrow.  So  while  they  drove  slowly 
away  Ward  sat  in  silence,  allowing  his  com- 
panion to  master  this  sudden  bitterness.  Then, 
as  the  carriage  was  turning  into  the  road 
through  the  woods,  the  older  boy  said :  — 

"  Would  you  mind  stopping  here  and  wait- 
ing for  me  a  few  moments,  Rupert ?  I'd  like 
to  go  into  the  athletic  house  and  say  a  word 
to  Clark's  brother." 

"Ah1  right,"  Rupert  answered,  in  a  voice 
that  was  quite  cheerful.  "  Wish  I  could  go 
with  you.  Stop  here  a  few  moments,  please, 
Patrick." 

Ward  opened  the  door  of  the  athletic  house, 
and  stood  a  moment,  confused  by  changes  in 
the  place  since  the  days  when  he  had  used  it, 
yet  pleasantly  conscious  that  the  spirit  of  it 
was  the  same. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    141 

The  hot,  damp  reek  of  the  great  bathroom, 
from  the  open  doors  of  which  clouds  of  steam 
were  issuing,  the  noisy,  echoing  voices  of  the 
boys,  the  heaps  of  dirty  jerseys  and  moleskin 
trousers  and  heavy,  cleated  shoes  lying  about 
on  the  floor,  the  open  lockers,  in  which  cloth- 
ing was  crowded  with  varying  regard  for  neat- 
ness, and,  most  of  all,  the  boys  themselves, 
loudly  discussing,  so  earnest  that  they  were 
forgetting  to  dress,  forgetting,  some  of  them, 
even  to  rub  themselves  dry  with  their  towels, 
• — these  were  the  facts  that  somehow  touched 
Phil  Ward's  heart  and  made  him  think  of  the 
time  when  he  had  been  such  a  boy. 

He  looked  about  for  Harry  Harding,  but 
saw  no  face  that  he  recognized.  In  one  corner 
a  boy,  stripped  to  the  waist,  lay  flat  on  the 
floor,  while  another  bent  over  him,  kneading 
his  back  and  rubbing  it  with  alcohol.  Ward 
stepped  up  and  inspected  the  two  ;  neither  of 
them  was  Harry. 

Over  by  the  scales  eight  or  ten  naked  fel- 
lows who  had  finished  rubbing  themselves 
down  were  waiting  in  line  to  see  how  much 


142    HARDING   OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

weight  they  had  lost  in  the  game.  Harry  was 
not  among  them ;  and  indeed,  as  Ward  looked 
about  on  the  boys,  deprived  of  their  distin- 
guishing colors,  he  could  not  tell  who  be- 
longed to  St.  John's,  who  to  St.  Timothy's. 

He  stepped  to  the  door  of  the  great  steam- 
ing bathroom,  where  members  of  both  elevens 
were  still  fraternizing  luxuriously  under  the 
showers,  carrying  on  incoherent  conversations 
in  loud,  echoing  voices ;  and  as  he  stood  here, 
Harry  came  out,  dripping,  wringing  the  water 
from  his  hair. 

"  Hello ! "  said  Ward,  and  Harry  looked  up 
at  him  from  under  his  wet  locks.  "  Congrat- 
ulate you."  He  held  out  his  hand. 

"Thanks,"  said  Harry.  "My  hand's  all 
wet"  — 

"  I  don't  mind  a  little  thing  like  that.  Now 
you'd  better  get  to  work  and  rub  yourself 
down." 

And  while  Harry,  in  accordance  with  this 
advice,  seized  a  towel  and  began  to  polish 
himself  to  a  bright  pink,  Ward  stood  by  and 
made  comments  on  the  game.  At  last  he  said : 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    143 

"  Well,  you  're  a  credit  to  the  family, 
Harry.  You  did  all  that  Clark  himself  could 
have  done.  I  guess  I  '11  have  to  write  to  him 
about  you.  See  you  later ;  see  you  at  the  ban- 
quet to-night." 

Then  he  went  to  rejoin  Rupert,  and  he  left 
Harry  feeling  very  proud  and  happy. 

Frank  Windsor  and  Harry  walked  up  to- 
gether to  their  room.  Frank  was  tired,  and 
stretched  himself  out  on  the  window-seat;  but 
Harry  had  not  played  long  enough  for  that 
and  soon  found  he  was  restless.  He  went  out 
to  look  for  friends  and  talk  with  others  about 
the  great  victory.  Downstairs  in  the  com- 
mon room  a  group  was  gathered,  and  Bruce 
Watson,  spying  Harry,  darted  out  from  it, 
seized  him,  and  dragged  him  forward.  One 
after  another  they  shook  hands  with  him. 

"  That  was  a  great  tackle  of  yours,  Harry." 
"  Too  bad  you  were  n't  in  the  game  longer." 
"  I  bet  you  'd  have  done  better  than  Holder." 
Such  were  the  pleasant  remarks  that  they 
showered  upon  him.  And  more  than  ever 
now  he  felt  that  he  had  won  his  spurs.  He 


144    HARDING   OF   ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

was  an  athlete  really ;  and  for  the  first  time 
he  felt  with  a  serene  satisfaction  that  his  title 
to  the  office  to  which  he  had  a  month  before 
been  elected  had  been  fairly  earned. 

Another  honor  was  to  be  his  that  night. 
While  the  boys  were  talking,  Mr.  Eldredge, 
the  master  who  had  assisted  in  coaching  the 
eleven  and  who  always  presided  at  the  ban- 
quet which  closed  the  football  season,  came  up. 

"Harding,"  he  said,  and  he  beckoned 
Harry  to  one  side,  "  I  want  to  give  you  warn- 
ing. We  expect  to  hear  from  you  at  the  ban- 
quet to-night  in  answer  to  the  toast,  'The 
Substitutes.' " 

"Oh,"  said  Harry,  pleased  and  excited, 
"I'll  see  if  I  can  think  up  something.  But 
I  have  n't  much  time,  have  I,  sir  ?  " 

"We  shan't  expect  a  great  oratorical  ef- 
fort from  you,"  Mr.  Eldredge  answered,  with 
a  smile,  as  he  turned  away. 

But  Harry,  with  his  imagination  already 
stirred  by  this  new  opportunity,  thought  it 
quite  possible  that  he  might  surprise  Mr.  El- 
dredge. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  banquet  was  not  to  begin  until  eight 
o'clock.    Harry,  sitting  at  his  desk,  in- 
vited ideas  for  a  speech. 

"  Substitutes "  —it  ought  to  be  easy  to  in- 
vent something  humorous  and  also  something 
quite  touching  to  say  on  the  subject  Mr.  El- 
dredge  had  given  him.  Fellows  working  hard 
all  the  season  —  taking  the  rough  knocks  of 
better  players,  used  as  buffers  by  the  first 
eleven,  and  then  on  the  day  of  the  game  just 
wearing  the  first  eleven's  blankets  and  tod- 
dling up  and  down  the  side-line.  They  were 
comical  figures,  —  all  bundled  and  blanketed, 
—  but  they  were  pathetic,  too,  and  each  one 
praying  that  some  one  on  the  first  eleven 
would  get  hurt  —  not  seriously  hurt,  of  course, 
but  just  enough  to  have  to  leave  the  game.  It 
was  inevitable  that  a  substitute  should  always 


146    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

be  in  that  state  of  mind,  and  it  was  an  idea 
out  of  which  something  might  be  made. 

Then,  Harry  reflected,  he  could  become  per- 
sonal, and  take  up  the  cases  of  various  indi- 
viduals. There  was  "  Fatty  "  Myers,  who  wore 
five  sweaters,  and  whose  heroic  abstinence  all 
the  season  from  sweetmeats  and  pastry  had 
delighted  the  scornful;  there  was  Tad  Mel- 
ville, who,  when  he  was  not  exercising,  was 
reading  books  on  "  How  to  Get  Strong,  and 
How  to  Stay  So"  —  nicknamed  "Old  Stay- 
So,"  in  consequence.  There  were  many  little 
incidents  that  Harry  began  to  see  he  could 
utilize  in  his  speech,  and  he  sat  up  to  the 
desk  and  began  to  write. 

He  grew  more  and  more  wrapped  in  the 
work.  One  thought  followed  another,  his  lips 
curved  now  and  then  in  appreciation  of  his 
own  humor ;  and  finally  he  became  involved 
in  an  eloquent  climax,  full  of  feeling  and  sen- 
timent and  pathos. 

He  stopped  in  the  midst  of  it  to  read  back 
a  little  way  and  admire  it.  "  Oh,  by  George, 
it 's  a  good  speech  !  "  he  said  to  himself.  He 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    147 

jumped  about  in  his  chair  excitedly,  and  then 
with  self-conscious  art  he  finished  his  affecting 
peroration. 

He  felt  in  his  heart  that  it  would  be  a  great 
deal  better  speech  than  any  one  else  would 
make  that  evening,  the  only  really  polished 
and  witty  speech,  the  only  one  that  would  have 
any  genuine  life  and  originality.  All  the 
others  would  be  like  Frank  Windsor's,  entirely 
impromptu  and  commonplace.  Harry  swelled 
a  little  with  pride  in  his  accomplishment  and 
in  anticipation  of  the  applause  it  would  re- 
ceive. It  would  be  another  proof  to  the  fel- 
lows of  his  eminence. 

The  banquet  was  held  in  the  choir-room 
over  the  library.  All  the  eleven,  all  the  sub- 
stitutes, and  two  or  three  specially  invited 
guests,  of  whom  Philip  Ward  was  one,  sat 
down  to  it. 

Mr.  Eldredge  and  two  other  masters  and 
Ward  wore  evening  clothes.  The  boys  had 
arrayed  themselves  in  their  best,  and  had  at 
the  outset  an  air  of  festive  formality. 

The  two  tables,  of  which  one  was  much 


148    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

longer  than  the  other,  were  placed  together  in 
the  form  of  a  T.  At  the  top  of  the  T  sat  Mr. 
Eldredge,  with  Rupert  Ormsby  on  his  right 
hand  and  Philip  Ward  on  his  left.  At  the  in- 
tersection of  the  T,  and  in  the  middle  and  at 
the  foot  of  the  long  table,  were  placed  great 
bowls  of  red  carnations,  and  beside  every  boy's 
plate  was  a  carnation  for  his  buttonhole  and 
a  miniature  football  tied  with  a  bow  of  red 
ribbon.  The  first  thing  that  the  boys  did 
upon  sitting  down  was  to  pin  on  these  decora- 
tions. They  were  more  restrained  in  their 
behavior  than  they  usually  were  at  meal-time. 
A  glow  of  cheerfulness  rather  than  a  demon- 
strative spirit  of  triumph  seemed  to  prevail. 

Harry,  sitting  between  Joe  Herrick  and 
Fatty  Myers,  was  assailed  by  nervousness.  The 
audience  that  he  was  to  address  seemed  much 
more  imposing  than  he  had  expected,  and  he 
suddenly  became  afraid  that  he  would  forget 
his  speech. 

So  he  took  out  the  manuscript  and  surrep- 
titiously tried  to  study  it,  holding  it  in  the 
folds  of  his  napkin ;  but  both  Herrick  and 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    149 

Myers  detected  him,  and  raised  such  an  out- 
cry that  he  had  to  put  it  back  into  his  pocket. 
He  did  not  want  to  have  everybody  at  the 
table  laughing  at  him.  So  he  sat  silent,  trying 
to  recite  the  speech  to  himself. 

Before  long  the  formality  was  all  dissipated. 
Mr.  Jackson,  the  choirmaster,  raised  suddenly, 
from  his  seat  at  the  foot  of  the  long  table,  the 
St.  Timothy's  song,  which  was  at  once  taken 
up  by  all  the  others ;  and  after  that  there  was 
no  more  constraint.  At  last,  when  the  ice- 
cream had  been  brought  on,  Mr.  Eldredge 
rose  and  rapped  on  the  table ;  and  Harry  felt 
a  nervous,  chilly  tremor  down  his  spine. 

"  We  have  now  come,"  said  Mr.  Eldredge, 
"to  the  literary  part  of  our  celebration.  I 
regret  that  we  have  n't  a  poet  to  do  justice  to 
our  annual  victory  over  St.  John's." 

There  was  loud  applause  for  the  phrase 
"  annual  victory,"  and  Mr.  Eldredge  con- 
tinued :  — 

"  In  default  of  a  poet,  I  am  going  to  call  on 
one  who,  we  can  feel  sure,  will  have  some- 
thing ready  and  appropriate  to  say  to  us,  even 


150    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

in  spite  of  this  suddenness.  When  by  an  un- 
fortunate accident  our  team  was  deprived  of 
its  captain's  leadership  upon  the  field,  it 
became  necessary  for  some  one  to  take  his 
place,  or  at  least  to  transmit  his  orders. 

Who  does  i'  the  wars  more  than  his  captain  can 
Becomes  his  captain's  captain,  — 

and  I  am  going  to  call  on  Frank  Windsor, 
who  served  as  his  captain's  captain,  to  tell  us 
how  the  game  was  won." 

Amidst  loud  applause  Mr.  Eldredge  sat  down, 
and  Frank  Windsor  rose.  In  spite  of  all  his 
previous  bravado  about  this  experience,  he  was 
blushing  most  uneasily,  and  no  sooner  did  he 
begin  to  speak  than  perspiration  gathered  on 
his  forehead.  He  looked  steadily  down  at  his 
plate,  and  talked  in  a  low  tone  and  in  very 
mixed,  incoherent  sentences. 

Harry  could  not  help  feeling  a  superior 
satisfaction,  as  Frank  went  on  stammering  out 
his  undigested  thoughts.  He  himself  would 
shine  all  the  more  by  contrast. 

Frank  ended  with  a  lame  tribute  to  Rupert, 
and  after  repeating  it  twice  in  an  attempt  to 


HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    151 

make  it  a  little  more  graceful,  abruptly  sat 
down.  The  boys  clapped  him  and  laughed  at 
him  while  he  swallowed  ice-water  and  then 
mopped  his  forehead. 

Mr.  Eldredge  rose  again,  and  Harry,  with 
premonition  gripping  his  throat,  began  moist- 
ening his  lips. 

"Mr.  Windsor  has  told  us  how  the  game 
was  won,"  said  Mr.  Eldredge,  "but  I  don't 
believe  he  has  told  us  the  whole  story.  There 's 
a  good  deal  that  goes  into  the  winning  which 
never  appears  on  the  surface.  It's  true  in 
football  as  in  most  other  things  that '  they  also 
serve  who  only  stand  and  wait,'  and  I  will  ask 
Mr.  Harry  Harding  —  who  did  not  wait  in 
vain — to  speak  on  behalf  of  the  substitutes." 

Harry  rose,  beaming  happily.  Mr.  Eldredge 
had  given  him  just  the  opening  for  his  speech. 

"  Mr.  Toastmaster,"  he  said,  "  I  have  a  quo- 
tation, too,  for  my  subject :  — 

Wait,  wait,  wait, 

On  the  cold,  gray  side  line  we  ! 
And  each  tender  sub  asks  his  anxious  heart, 
<  Will  they  never  call  for  me  ? '" 


152    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

He  spoke  the  lines  so  pathetically  that  they 
appealed  to  all  the  other  substitutes,  who 
began  to  applaud  and  laugh  with  great  appre- 
ciation. That  gave  him  confidence,  and  he 
went  through  his  speech  with  a  genial  humor 
and  enthusiasm  which  reached  his  audience. 
They  laughed  at  his  jokes,  and  were  delighted 
by  his  sallies  at  the  expense  of  Fatty  Myers 
and  "Old  Stay-So;"  and  when  he  finished, 
it  was  with  the  comfortable  sense  that  he  had 
improved  his  reputation  for  cleverness. 

The  fellows  near  by  congratulated  him, 
and  the  applause  lasted  much  longer  than  that 
which  had  consigned  Frank  Windsor's  speech 
to  friendly  oblivion. 

When  it  was  over,  Mr.  Eldredge  stood  up 
again. 

"  If  it  is  true,"  he  began,  "  that  { calamity 
is  man's  true  touchstone,'  perhaps  we  ought  to 
congratulate  our  captain  this  year  on  his  test 
instead  of  condoling  with  him  on  his  misfor- 
tune. I  will  venture  to  say  that  if  he  had  been 
able  to  lead  his  team  to  victory  in  person,  we 
should  still  not  have  learned  to  respect  and 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    153 

admire  him  so  much  as  we  do  now ;  and  I  be- 
lieve that  however  well  he  might  have  played, 
he  could  not  have  done  more  toward  winning 
the  game  than,  by  communicating  his  spirit 
and  his  influence  to  his  team,  he  has  already 
done." 

Here  Mr.  Eldredge  was  interrupted  by  a 
burst  of  applause,  louder  and  longer,  Harry 
could  not  help  noticing  with  a  twinge  of 
jealousy,  than  that  which  had  just  resounded 
for  him. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Eldredge,  "I  am 
going  to  call  on  Rupert  Ormsby  to  speak  for 
the  team." 

While  the  clapping  rose  and  continued,  Ru- 
pert picked  up  the  crutches  lying  beside  his 
chair,  and  with  them  and  Mr.  Eldredge's  as- 
sistance, got  to  his  feet.  His  face  was  as  red 
as  Frank  Windsor's  had  been,  but  it  was  with 
emotion  rather  than  with  confusion. 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Eldredge,"  he  said ;  and 
the  master  sat  down. 

Rupert  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then,  as  he 
leaned  on  his  crutches,  he  smiled.  "  I  guess 


154    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

this  team  does  n't  need  anybody  to  speak  for 
it.  Least  of  all  a  fellow  that  was  lolling  in  a 
carriage  while  it  was  doing  the  work.  Mr. 
Eldredge  has  just  said  some  things  that  are 
very  pleasant,  but  not  very  true.  But  part  of 
what  he  said  was  entirely  true ;  and  that  is 
that  if  I  'd  been  in  the  game  we  would  n't  have 
done  a  bit  better." 

"  Never  said  it !  "  interjected  Mr.  Eldredge, 
and  the  audience  laughed. 

"Well,  you  implied  it,  anyway,"  retorted 
Rupert  humorously.  "  You  were  too  polite 
really  to  say  it.  Joe  Herrick,  who  played  my 
end,  did  all  that  I  could  ever  have  thought  of 
doing  —  and  I  dare  say  I  should  n't  have  been 
on  the  spot,  as  he  was,  to  pick  up  that  ball 
and  put  it  where  it  would  mean  a  touchdown. 
And  Holder  and  Harding,  on  the  other  end, 
played  so  that  nobody  would  ever  have  guessed 
we  'd  been  afraid  of  a  weak  spot.  And  the 
others  all  played  as  I  'd  never,  never  seen  them 
play.  Mr.  Eldredge  is  very  generous,  attribut- 
ing so  much  of  the  winning  spirit  to  me ;  but 
I  want  to  say  that  the  spirit  that  won  that  game 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    155 

did  n't  belong  to  me ;  it  belonged  to  the  fellows 
themselves. 

"In  fact,"  —  he  hesitated  again,  and  then 
went  on,  —  "  in  fact,  I  've  got  to  make  a  con- 
fession. When  it  was  all  over,  and  you  fellows 
had  won  and  the  crowd  was  parading  away 
from  the  field,  I  did  n't  feel  happy  a  bit.  I  felt 
sore  —  sore  because  I  was  n't  in  it  all,  and  be- 
cause I  'd  had  to  see  other  fellows  doing  what 
I  'd  wanted  to  do.  I  can  tell  you  this  now,  for 
I  've  got  over  it,  and  I  do  feel  very,  very  happy. 
And  I  can  honestly  say  now,  as  I  look  back, 
that  I  would  n't  have  had  things  happen  any 
differently.  You  won't  all  of  you  —  perhaps 
you  won't  any  of  you  —  understand,  but  this 
whole  thing  has  made  me  more  aware  of  what 
there  is  in  you  fellows,  and  of  the  way  you  're 
good  enough  to  feel  toward  me,  than  I  could 
ever  have  been  if  I  had  n't  got  hurt  and  if  I  'd 
played  in  the  game." 

And  while,  with  Mr.  Eldredge's  assistance, 
he  was  laboriously  getting  back  into  his  seat, 
and  the  boys,  who  had  been  very  much  touched 
by  what  he  had  said,  were  clapping  noisily, 


156    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Joe  Herrick  was  the  only  one  of  them  all  to 
appreciate  the  full  significance  of  Rupert's  last 
words.  He  found  himself  winking  unaccount- 
ably to  clear  up  the  mist  that  had  gathered  in 
his  eyes ;  and  then  on  a  sudden  inspiration  he 
mounted  his  chair,  and  shouted :  — 

"  Fellows,  all  up,  and  three  times  three  for 
Ormsby!" 

Harry  cheered  with  the  others,  but  there 
was  a  little  sting  of  disappointment  in  his 
breast  even  while  he  cheered.  Somehow  he 
knew  that  Rupert's  speech  had  eclipsed  his 
own  brilliancy.  When  he  sat  down,  he  heard 
Fatty  Myers  say  to  some  one  across  the  table : 

"That's  about  the  best  speech  a  fellow 
could  make,"  and  Sam  Morse  answered,  "  You 
bet!" 

Mr.  Eldredge  was  whispering  to  Ward. 
Then  he  rose  and  rapped  on  the  table. 

"  We  have  with  us  to-night,"  he  said,  "  a 
distinguished  son  of  St.  Timothy's — distin- 
guished though  still  young.  Every  boy  in 
this  room  is  familiar  with  the  career  of  Philip 
Ward,  and  can  tell  just  how  many  years  he 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    157 

has  played  on  a  'varsity  football-team.  And 
every  boy  in  this  room  who  aspires  to  play  on 
a  'varsity  team  himself  some  day  wants  to  hear 
from  Philip  Ward." 

The  boys  showed  their  satisfaction  by  loud 
clapping  and  an  eager  pushing  about  of  their 
chairs ;  and  Philip  Ward  rose.  Tall  and  dark, 
he  was  very  handsome  as  he  stood  there  in  his 
evening  clothes,  and  the  boys  all  looked  up 
at  him  with  respectful  admiration.  His  face, 
which  was  naturally  rather  severe  in  its  clear, 
determined  lines,  lighted  up  as  he  smiled  and 
bowed,  first  to  Mr.  Eldredge,  and  then,  as  the 
master  sat  down,  to  the  others. 

"  Mr.  Toastmaster  and  members  of  the  St. 
Timothy's  eleven,"  he  began,  "for  certain 
reasons  I  couldn't  help  comparing  to-day's 
game  with  the  last  football  game  I  ever  played 
against  St.  John's.  I  roomed  that  year  with 
Clark  Harding,  who  was  captain  of  the  team. 

"  He  was  our  best  man  —  just  as,  from  all 
I  hear,  Rupert  Ormsby  was  your  best  man. 
But  in  the  first  five  minutes  of  the  game  with 
St.  John's  Clark  wrenched  his  knee,  and  had 


158    HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

to  be  carried  from  the  field.  He  lay  on  the 
side  line  the  rest  of  the  game,  looking  on. 
He  lay  there  and  saw  another  fellow  do  the 
things  he'd  hoped  to  do.  He  lay  there  and 
saw  this  chap  Skilton  —  and  a  corker  he  was, 
too  —  win  the  game.  And  yet  of  all  the  fel- 
lows that  played  that  day  you'd  have  said 
Clark  Harding  was  the  happiest  —  and  so,  I 
believe,  he  really  was,  except  perhaps  Skilton. 
But  here 's  a  thing  I  saw  in  our  room  that 
night  —  a  thing  I  Ve  never  told  till  now." 

He  paused  a  moment ;  the  boys  waited  in- 
tently. Harry,  of  course,  was  listening  with 
a  proud  and  special  interest.  Rupert  was  sit- 
ting with  his  eyes  lowered,  thinking  that  he 
did  not  compare  very  well  with  Clark  Hard- 
ing. 

"  I  was  writing  a  letter  home  about  the 
game,  and  turned  suddenly  to  ask  him  a  ques- 
tion. He  was  lying  on  the  bed  with  his  face 
toward  me,  dabbing  the  tears  away  from  his 
eyes  with  a  handkerchief.  I  knew  it  wasn't 
the  pain  in  his  knee  that  made  the  tears  hi  his 
eyes.  He  asked  me  why  I  wanted  to  turn 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    159 

round  just  then,  and  I  did  n't  say  a  word,  and 
we  neither  of  us  ever  mentioned  it  again.  I 
knew  that  time  about  Clark,  —  just  as  all  you 
fellows  have  known  to-night  about  Rupert 
Ormsby,  —  that  it  was  n't  because  he  'd  missed 
the  glory  of  making  the  touchdown  that  he 
felt  badly,  but  because  he  'd  been  shut  out 
from  doing  the  work  and  being  useful.  And  I 
consider  that  an  honorable  sort  of  regret,  with 
nothing  small  or  mean  or  envious  in  it.  And 
when  you  hear  a  fellow  like  Rupert  Ormsby 
crying  himself  down  for  selfishness  and  pet- 
tiness, why,  clap  him  the  way  you  've  done  to- 
night —  and  don't  believe  him." 

They  all  laughed  and  clapped  at  this  — 
except  Rupert.  And  he  sat  blushing  and  feel- 
ing a  good  deal  better  than  a  few  moments 
before,  when  he  had  foreseen  a  disastrous  com- 
parison with  Clark  Harding.  Philip  Ward 
continued :  - 

"  When  Mr.  Eldredge  told  me  I  'd  be  ex- 
pected to  make  a  speech  to-night,  I  thought 
perhaps  the  best  thing  I  could  do  would  be  to 
talk  on  how  to  act  when  you  go  to  college — 


160    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

for  I  suppose  most  of  you  are  going  a  year  or 
two  years  from  now.  And  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  case  of  Clark  Harding — which  is  the  same, 
you  see,  as  the  case  of  Rupert  Ormsby — gives 
me  a  good  starting-point.  Those  two  fellows 
are  out  to  do  something  —  not  just  to  be  promi- 
nent. At  least,  that 's  the  way  it  was  with 
Clark,  and  from  having  known  Rupert  since 
he  was  a  kid,  I  think  I  can  say  the  same  for 
him.  But  we  '11  leave  him  out  of  it  now ;  it's 
not  fair  to  embarrass  him  any  more  by  sing- 
ing his  praises.  I  '11  stick  simply  to  Clark. 

"He  was  a  fellow,  I  can  tell  you,  that  never 
once  thought  of  the  importance  of  being  per- 
sonally prominent.  He  never  did  things  with 
that  purpose  in  view.  Now  in  that  respect  he 
was  different  from  nearly  every  other  fellow  of 
his  age;  he  was  certainly  different  from  me. 
Here  at  school  I  'd  got  into  the  habit  of  mis- 
taking prominence  for  success;  nearly  every 
boy  makes  that  mistake.  It's  only  the  rare 
fellows  like  Clark  who  don't  make  it. 

uBut  the  rest  of  us  find  out  after  a  while 
that  it  is  a  mistake.  We  've  gone  to  college, 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    161 

just  as  we've  gone  to  school,  maybe — with 
just  an  idea  of  being  socially  prominent  and 
popular,  getting  into  clubs  and  societies,  mak- 
ing athletic  teams,  holding  offices,  being 
talked  about  and  looked  up  to  as  if  we  were 
somebody.  And  maybe  we  succeed  in  that 
ambition.  And  then,  when  we  Ve  done  it,  we 
find  that  it 's  a  pretty  empty  success,  after  all. 

"  We  find  that  some  fellow  like  Clark  Hard- 
ing, who  has  n't  lifted  a  hand  to  gain  what 
we  Ve  prized,  has  got  that  and  more,  too.  And 
we  begin  to  feel  like  the  pacemaker  in  a  run- 
ning race,  who  starts  out  as  if  he  were  going 
to  leave  the  whole  field  behind  —  and  then, 
after  the  first  lap,  is  passed  by  every  one. 
That's  what  comes  to  the  boy  who,  either 
here  or  at  college,  acquires  no  more  solid  am- 
bition than  just  to  shine." 

Ward  paused  a  moment,  and  in  that  inter- 
val, while  the  other  boys  were  sitting  gravely 
silent,  Harry  stirred  in  a  discomfort  that  was 
almost  physical.  With  a  sudden  sensitiveness, 
which  had  made  him  wince,  he  had  felt  that, 
unintentionally,  this  discourse  was  aimed  at 


162    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

him.  And  what  made  it  more  painful  was  that 
the  brother  whom  he  adored  was  being  used 
to  point  the  moral.  How  truly  he  knew  that 
he  himself  was  the  boy  who  liked  to  shine ! 

"  I  hope,"  Ward  continued,  speaking  even 
more  earnestly,  "  you  won't  misunderstand  me. 
Most  of  you  fellows  who  are  here  to-night 
are  prominent  in  the  life  of  St.  Timothy's 
School.  The  fact  that  you  are  here  is  an 
indication  of  prominence.  And  prominence  is 
not  a  crime;  it  need  not  be  a  misfortune. 
It  means  that  you  are  having  a  larger  oppor- 
tunity to  live  than  other  boys  —  a  larger 
opportunity  to  work  and  to  play,  a  larger  op- 
portunity to  befriend  those  who  are  more 
obscure,  more  weak,  more  unsatisfied  and 
unhappy  than  yourselves.  You  have  the 
opportunity  for  leadership;  and  leadership 
means  a  good  deal  more  than  walking  at  the 
head  of  the  procession.  The  fellow  who  is 
after  the  ornamental  features  of  leadership 
will  never  be  a  leader.  He  will  only  be  that 
by  doing  the  work  and  letting  some  one  else 
attend  to  the  advertising. 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    163 

All  good  things  await 

Him  who  cares  not  to  be  great 

But  as  he  saves  and  serves  the  state. 

"  And  you  are  saving  and  serving  the  state 
—  this  little  state  of  St.  Timothy's  —  when 
you  are  building  your  own  character.  For  when 
you  are  building  your  own  character,  you 
are  —  though  you  may  not  know  it — helping 
some  friend  to  build  his.  And  character  is 
the  only  thing  that  counts.  Without  charac- 
ter, muscles  are  nothing;  brains  are  nothing; 
and  though  you  had  '  the  front  of  Jove  him- 
self, an  eye  like  Mars,  to  threaten  and  com-r 
mand,'  and  had  not  character,  some  homely, 
puny-looking  dwarf,  who  has  what  you  lack, 
may  arise  at  any  moment  and  upset  you." 

He  sat  down ;  and  after  a  moment  of  still- 
ness, which  attested  the  impression  that  his 
speech  had  made,  the  applause  broke  out.  And 
Harry,  applauding  with  the  others,  knew  that 
his  own  clever  little  speech,  over  which  he 
had  so  hopefully  toiled,  was  already  buried 
and  forgotten. 

But  it  was  no  longer  this  knowledge  which 


164    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

depressed  him  on  this  night  of  triumph  and  cel- 
ebration. Philip  Ward  had,  all  unconsciously, 
shown  him  how  unlike  Clark  he  was,  and  it 
was  this  which  stung. 

When  Harry  came  into  his  room  that  night 
he  found  a  letter  from  Clark,  postmarked 
Aden,  lying  on  his  desk. 

It  was  the  first  unsympathetic  letter  that 
he  had  ever  had  from  his  brother.  This  was 
the  part  that  hurt :  — 

"  What  the  dickens  is  all  this  about  your 
being  elected  president  of  the  athletic  asso- 
ciation? It  may  be  all  right,  but  I  don't 
quite  see  it.  I  never  knew  you  were  especially 
much  of  an  athlete.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  you 
fellows  in  the  Crown  had  been  playing  politics. 
Have  n't  you  got  somebody  else's  honor  away 
from  him  ?  " 


CHAPTER  IX 

T  TARRY  almost  wept  over  this  letter.  To 
-•— •-  think  that  Clark,  whom  he  had  expected 
to  make  proud  and  happy  by  the  announce- 
ment, should  view  his  election  in  such  a  spirit ! 

Harry's  disappointment  was  not  accompa- 
nied by  any  bitterness  against  his  brother  ; 
and  he  could  not  escape  the  justice  of  Clark's 
criticism.  He  admitted  to  himself  that  the 
Crown  had  played  politics,  but  he  had  not  him- 
self encouraged  this  or  taken  part.  There  had 
been  no  real  opposition  to  his  candidacy.  Ru- 
pert Ormsby,  the  only  other  fellow  who  was 
seriously  considered,  had  been  indifferent  to 
the  office ;  and,  as  it  turned  out  in  the  voting, 
the  majority  of  the  school  wanted  Harry  to  be 
their  president. 

This  was  the  explanation  that  he  made  in 
answering  Clark's  letter,  and  he  added  quite 
wistfully  that  he  thought  he  had  done  some- 


166    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

thing  to  justify  such  an  election.  He  described 
the  part  he  had  taken  in  the  football  game, 
and  recited  Philip  Ward's  tribute  to  him. 

"  And  I  'm  going  to  see  if  I  can't  make  the 
track  team  in  the  spring,"  he  wrote.  "  I  'm 
a  good  deal  bigger  and  stronger  than  I  was 
when  you  last  saw  me,  Clark." 

In  this  way  he  sought  to  answer  not  only 
Clark's  reproaches,  but  his  own. 

Clark  had  not  suggested  to  him  that  he 
should  resign  the  office,  but  it  was  a  solution 
which  presented  itself  to  Harry's  conscience. 
Yet  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  make  such 
renunciation.  There  was  still  the  thought  of 
that  day  in  June  to  enchant  him,  the  thought 
of  standing  up  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  —  or  some  one  else  almost  as 
distinguished,  —  the  thought  of  the  pleasure 
it  would  give  his  mother  —  if  not  Clark ! 

He  believed  that  Clark,  when  he  was  on  the 
spot  and  saw  how  well  his  brother  could  carry 
off  such  an  occasion,  was  bound  to  be  pleased. 
So,  although  he  had  taken  very  much  to  heart 
what  Philip  Ward  had  said  at  the  banquet,  it 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    167 

did  not  influence  him  into  renouncing  honors 
already  won.  It  was  as  a  suggestion  for  future 
conduct  rather  than  as  a  corrective  of  the  past 
that  it  was  to  have  its  effect. 

He  honestly  wished  now  to  evade  promi- 
nence, to  avoid  being  conspicuous;  and  he 
decided  that  the  best  way  was  by  staying  in 
his  room  and  studying  hard,  and  doing  his 
editorial  work  for  the  "  Mirror  "  with  more  care 
and  with  less  of  the  eleventh-hour  facility 
which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  give  to  it. 
In  short,  he  was  determined  to  see  if  he  could 
not  work  in  a  quite  unworldly  way. 

The  time  did  not  favor  him ;  it  was  between 
seasons,  so  to  speak,  when  there  was  not  much 
to  do  outdoors.  Snow  and  ice  had  not  yet 
come,  and  in  the  recreation  hours  the  boys 
roamed  restlessly  from  room  to  room. 

Harry's  quarters  had  always  been  a  rallying- 
place,  and  it  was  impossible  to  make  the  fel- 
lows understand  that  they  were  not  so  welcome 
as  formerly,  even  if  it  had  been  true.  Harry 
always  confessed  to  a  weak  sort  of  gladness 
when  they  arrived  and  compelled  him  to  put 


168    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

away  his  work;  and  as  for  Frank  Windsor, 
he  could  not  endure  either  solitude  or  scholar- 
ship. 

Yet  Harry  was  making  a  struggle,  and  he 
acquired  the  habit  of  resorting  in  the  after- 
noon to  the  library  instead  of  to  his  room. 
There  he  found  he  could  read  and  write  undis- 
turbed. And  there,  too,  he  began  to  take  an 
interest  in  those  queer,  quiet  boys  who  spent 
so  much  time  at  tables  and  desks  that  their 
sleeves  were  rubbed  shiny,  and  whom  Harry 
had  been  inclined  to  regard  as  the  freaks  and 
offscourings  of  the  school. 

They  turned  out  to  be  more  human  than 
he  had  supposed.  And  he  found  that  if  he  did 
not  ridicule  them,  as  many  of  the  fellows  did, 
they  were  rather  pleased  than  otherwise  when 
he  uttered  some  extravagant  sentiment  to 
shock  their  primness. 

During  the  rest  of  that  term,  which  closed 
a  few  days  before  Christmas,  Harry  helped 
aspirants  to  construct  stories  and  essays  for 
the  "  Mirror,"  he  tried  to  improve  the  standard 
of  the  paper,  he  availed  himself  of  his  author- 


HAEDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    169 

ity  as  president  of  the  Pen  and  Ink  to  make 
out  lists  of  references  for  reading  on  the  sub- 
jects of  debate.  To  the  pleasant  surprise  of 
the  rector  and  the  masters,  he  began  to  show 
a  faculty  for  being  unobtrusively  helpful. 

It  was  in  the  Pen  and  Ink  that  Harry  found 
the  first  urgent  and  difficult  demand  upon  his 
newly  awakened  public  spirit.  There  was  only 
one  vacancy  left,  and  at  the  first  meeting 
after  Thanksgiving  an  attempt  to  fill  this  was 
made.  Harry,  presiding,  called  for  nomina- 
tions. Immediately  Nat  Belmont  was  on  his 
feet,  proposing  Francis  Stoddard.  Some  one 
else  seconded  him. 

"  Are  there  any  other  nominations  ?  "  asked 
Harry. 

Frank  Windsor  rose.  "  I  nominate  Mr.  Al- 
bree,"  he  said. 

Harry  looked  surprised.  His  roommate  had 
not  confided  this  purpose  to  him.  Bruce 
Watson  seconded  Albree's  name. 

There  were  no  other  nominations.  Candi- 
dates were  voted  on  in  alphabetical  order; 
therefore  Albree's  name  was  submitted  first. 


170    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

Two  blackballs  excluded  a  candidate  from 
membership ;  and  when  the  votes  were  counted 
it  was  found  that  Albree  had  received  seven 
blackballs.  Frank  Windsor  and  Bruce  Wat- 
son, who  were  sitting  together  in  the  back  of 
the  room,  conferred  in  whispers  after  this  an- 
nouncement. Then  Frank  rose. 

"  Mr.  President,"  he  said,  "  I  'd  like  to  say 
about  Mr.  Albree  that  he 's  one  of  the  bright- 
est and  most  amusing  fellows  I  know,  and  I 
don't  think  the  fact  that  he's  never  done 
much  in  a  literary  way  should  count  against 
him.  He  'd  be  mighty  good  in  debates.  He 's 
witty  and  clever,  and  I  hope  the  society  will 
feel  like  reconsidering  its  vote." 

"  Mr.  Stoddard  has  been  proposed  for  mem- 
bership, and  will  now  be  voted  on,"  said  Harry, 
and  Windsor  sat  down. 

A  few  moments  later  Harry  received  from 
the  tellers  the  memorandum  announcing  the 
result  of  the  vote.  He  announced  slowly :  — 

"  Mr.  Stoddard  has  received  two  blackballs, 
and  is  therefore  not  elected." 

Nat  Belmont  and  three  or  four  other  fellows 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    171 

sitting  on  the  front  benches  twisted  round  and 
glared  angrily  at  Watson  and  Windsor.  Bruce 
Watson  accepted  the  challenge  of  this  glare, 
and  rose. 

"  Mr.  President,"  he  said,  in  a  pacific  voice, 
"  I  should  like  to  say  that  Francis  Stoddard 
is  a  friend  of  mine.  I  've  known  him  and  liked 
him  for  a  long  time,  and  personally  I  should 
be  glad  to  see  him  in  the  society.  But  I  can't 
help  thinking  that  Albree  would  be  the  better 
man  of  the  two,  and  that  his  election  would  be 
for  the  better  interests  of  the  Pen  and  Ink. 
He  'd  do  more  to  liven  things  up  than  Stoddard 
would.  I  hate,  for  personal  reasons,  to  be  op- 
posing Stoddard,  but  that 's  the  way  I  feel." 

"Mr.  President,"  said  Belmont  quickly,  "I 
move  another  ballot  be  taken  on  both  candi- 
dates." 

The  motion  was  carried  without  debate. 
This  time  Albree  received  nine  blackballs  — 
more  than  half  of  the  total  number  of  votes 
cast.  Windsor  and  Watson  looked  grim.  The 
ballot-box  was  passed  for  votes  upon  Stoddard's 
name.  He  received,  as  before,  two  blackballs. 


172    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

"Mr.  President,"  exclaimed  Belmont,  "I 
move  another  ballot  on  Mr.  Stoddard  ! " 

There  was  no  objection  raised,  but  the  third 
ballot  showed  the  same  result  as  the  two  previ- 
ous ones.  And  a  fourth  ballot  was  taken,  with 
no  change. 

"  Is  it  the  pleasure  of  the  meeting  that  the 
balloting  should  go  on  indefinitely?"  asked 
Harry. 

Belmont  rose.  "  Mr.  President,  it  seems  to 
me  that  two  members  are  trying  to  hold  up 
this  society.  Two  members  are  keeping  a 
fellow  out  that  the  society  wants,  in  order  to 
get  in  a  fellow  that  the  society  does  n't  want. 
I  suggest  that  one  more  ballot  be  taken  to 
give  these  gentlemen  a  chance  to  show  a  better 
spirit." 

"Mr.  President,"  cried  Frank  Windsor, 
starting  to  his  feet,  "  in  reply  to  the  gentle- 
man's  insinuations  about  holding  up  the  soci- 
ety, I  'd  like  to  say  I  've  as  much  right  to  my 
vote  as  he  has  to  his ;  and  if  he  thinks  he  can 
bulldoze  me  into  changing  it,  he  '11  find  him- 
self mistaken ! " 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    173 

Belmont  was  quick  to  reply.  "  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, the  only  bulldozing  that  I  've  ever  known 
of  in  this  society  has  come  from  members  of  a 
secret  society  that  meets  somewhere  off  in  the 
woods  and  tries  to  run  the  affairs  of  another." 

Harry,  flushing,  rapped  on  the  table  and 
rose. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  think  there 's 
been  enough  of  this.  If  we  adjourn  and  talk 
things  over  among  ourselves,  we'll  be  able  to 
settle  them  in  a  better  temper.  Will  some  one 
make  a  motion  to  adjourn?" 

The  motion  was  made  and  carried.  Later 
in  the  evening  Harry  talked  to  Frank  Windsor 
and  Bruce  Watson  in  his  room. 

"You  fellows  are  in  the  wrong,"  he  said  to 
them  earnestly.  "  Albree  is  n't  as  good  a  man 
for  the  place  as  Stoddard,  and  you  can't  per- 
suade that  crowd  that  he  is.  You  can  keep  on 
blackballing  Stoddard,  but  you'll  never  get 
Albree  in.  Now  do  you  want  to  keep  on, — 
and  split  the  society,  —  and  maybe  do  worse 
than  that?" 

u  How  worse  than  that  ?  "  asked  Watson. 


174    HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"  There  are  some  pretty  plain  hints.  Some 
of  the  fellows  think  it's  time  there  was  a  rival 
society  started  to  operate  against  the  Crown. 
Once  that 's  done,  it  will  mean  a  continuous 
wrangle  in  the  school." 

"  I  don't  see  why  Stoddard  's  a  better  man," 
insisted  Watson. 

" He's  written  some  pretty  good  stuff  for 
the  '  Mirror,'  and  Albree  never  has,  for  one 
thing,"  Harry  explained. 

"  But  Albree 's  more  amusing." 

"  That 's  not  really  the  point,  and  you  know 
it,  Bruce.  Now  are  you  fellows  going  to  be 
pig-headed  and  make  trouble,  or  are  you  go- 
ing to  give  in  when  nine  tenths  of  the  society 
show  you  that  you  're  in  the  wrong  ?  " 

"  I  told  Tom  Albree  I  'd  get  him  elected  ; 
he  wants  to  join,"  Frank  Windsor  muttered 
stubbornly. 

"  Oh,  that 's  it !  "  exclaimed  Harry,  in  a  sort 
of  exasperated  despair.  "  And  now  you  don't 
like  to  own  up  to  him  that  you  can't  do  what 
you  promised ! "  He  thought  a  moment,  and 
then  he  said,  "  I  tell  you  what,  Frank.  If  I 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    175 

go  to  Tom  Albree  myself,  and  explain  how  it 
is,  and  so  let  you  and  Bruce  out,  will  you 
agree  not  to  blackball  Stoddard  ?  " 

They  looked  at  each  other  and  hesitated, 
and  then  said,  "  Yes." 

It  was  a  task  repugnant  to  one  who  had 
always  tried  to  bring  pleasant  messages  to 
people  and  to  evade  the  unwelcome  word. 
But  as  president  of  the  Crown,  and  also  of 
the  Pen  and  Ink,  and  in  the  interests  of  both 
societies,  Harry  fulfilled  the  duty. 

Tom  Albree  did  not  take  his  rejection  with 
good  grace,  and  he  believed  Harry  to  have 
been  at  the  bottom  of  it ;  in  fact,  Harry  forced 
himself  to  be  brave  enough  to  declare  his 
responsibility.  Albree  concluded  that  Harry 
was  becoming  officious,  and  thenceforth  he 
felt  less  friendly  toward  him.  But  the  threat- 
ening split  in  the  Pen  and  Ink  was  averted,  and 
there  was  a  lull  in  the  hints  about  the  necessity 
of  a  secret  society  antagonistic  to  the  Crown. 

The  Sunday  afternoon  meetings  of  the  Crown 
had  degenerated  into  empty,  futile  affairs.  On 
cold,  damp  days  the  sacred  rock  held  out  no 


176    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

attractions,  and  the  prescribed  meeting  was  a 
mere  formality. 

The  society  was  at  this  inactive  period  so 
purposeless  that  it  had  nothing  to  do  but  to 
discuss  the  merits  of  the  various  fifth-form 
boys  who  might  be  called  on  to  continue  it. 
Harry  had  begun  to  weary  of  the  impressive 
secrecy  and  exclusiveness  of  its  performances. 
To  march  away  every  Sunday  afternoon  with 
the  school  looking  on  and  holding  its  breath 
had  ceased  to  give  him  a  pleasurable  exhilara- 
tion. The  sham  importance  of  it  all  made  him 
now  a  little  ashamed.  He  felt  it  was  one  of 
those  vacuous  manifestations  of  prominence 
against  which  Philip  Ward  had  uttered  his 
warning. 

One  Sunday,  as  the  members  of  the  Crown 
were  proceeding  to  their  rallying-place,  they 
passed  Rupert  Ormsby,  swinging  along  on  his 
crutches,  with  Francis  Stoddard  walking  at 
his  side.  It  galled  Harry  to  have  to  go  by  with 
the  others  and  say  nothing  more  than  "  Hello ! " 
It  grated  on  his  sensitiveness,  as  if  he  were 
unwillingly  a  party  to  an  insult,  or  at  least  a 


HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    177 

deliberate  slight.  It  seemed  somehow  especially 
ankind  to  pass  a  lame  fellow  who  was  limping 
along  on  crutches,  and  not  linger  and  talk  with 
him  a  while. 

Moreover,  with  Harry's  growing  admiration 
for  Rupert  there  had  been  a  growing  jealousy 
of  Rupert's  intimacy  with  Stoddard  j  and  there 
was  now  perhaps  a  personal  reluctance  on 
Harry's  part  to  pass  and  leave  Stoddard  in 
undivided  possession  of  this  intimacy. 

At  any  rate,  the  incident  prompted  Harry 
to  utter  his  protest  as  soon  as  the  Crown  was 
assembled  at  the  sacred  rock. 

"  Fellows,"  he  said,  "  I  'd  like  to  know  if 
you  aren't  getting  tired  of  this  secret  society 
business?  We  all  know  it 's  just  a  fake.  Is  n't 
it  about  time  to  drop  it  ?  " 

"  Oh  shucks,  no ! "  declared  Frank  Windsor. 
"  It 's  amusing,  and  besides,  it  keeps  the  other 
fellows  guessing." 

"  This  is  n't  our  busy  season,"  put  in  Bruce 
Watson.  "  When  it 's  necessary  to  run  things 
we  can  do  a  lot  of  good." 

"  It  seems  to  me  the  Crown  has  done  con- 


178     HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

siderable  for  you,  Harry,"  said  Tom  Albree. 
"Just  because  you've  got  everything  you 
want  through  it,  I  don't  know  that  the  Crown 
has  outlived  its  usefulness." 

Harry  flushed.  "  That 's  not  a  very  fair  re- 
mark," he  said,  "even  though  it  sounds  telling. 
I  think  the  Crown  has  outlived  its  usefulness, 
whether  it  comes  with  a  good  grace  from  me 
to  say  so  or  not." 

"  I  don't  agree  with  you,"  said  Albree,  in 
a  chilly  voice.  The  others  remained  silent, 
except  for  one  or  two  muttered  remarks,  "  I 
don't,  either." 

"  Well,"  said  Harry,  with  dignity,  after  a 
moment,  "  I  don't  seem  in  sympathy  with  the 
society,  and  I  wish  to  tender  my  resignation 
as  president." 

"  Oh  bosh !  "  cried  Frank  Windsor.  "  We 
don't  want  you  to  resign ;  we  won't  have  it. 
I  move  that  Mr.  Harding's  resignation  be  not 
accepted." 

The  motion  was  seconded  and  carried,  and 
then  Joe  Herrick,  who  had  not  spoken  except 
to  vote,  said :  — 


HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    179 

"  Just  the  same,  I  think  there 's  something  in 
Harry's  suggestion.  I  believe  it 's  worth  think- 
ing over." 

This  from  one  who  had  formerly  been  the 
most  partisan  and  narrow-minded  upholder  of 
the  dignity  of  the  Crown  was  startling,  and  the 
boys  looked  at  Herrick  in  wonder. 

"  I  don't  see  what 's  come  over  you,  Joe," 
remarked  Albree  discontentedly. 

"  It 's  just  that  I  believe  there 's  something 
in  what  Harry  says,"  Herrick  repeated. 

"Well,"  Albree  answered,  "maybe  you'll 
change  your  mind." 

The  matter  was  for  the  time  being  al- 
lowed to  drop.  Harry  afterward  explained  his 
views  to  Frank  Windsor  and  one  or  two  other 
members,  but  he  did  not  convince  them,  and 
he  did  not  press  the  agitation. 

When  hockey  and  snow-shoeing  and  to- 
bogganing began,  Harry  found  his  diversions 
mainly  indoors.  He  was  a  poor  skater,  he  dis- 
liked snow-shoeing,  and  he  was  indifferent  to 
tobogganing.  His  favorite  diversion  on  winter 
afternoons  in  previous  years  had  been  to  as- 


180    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

semble  a  crowd  of  indolent  companions  in  his 
room,  brew  chocolate  for  them,  and  devise  with 
them  disorderly  plots  and  practical  jokes,  for 
which  he  had  a  conspicuous  fertility  of  mind. 

But  now  he  resorted  to  the  gymnasium,  and 
trained  with  the  first  squad  of  candidates  for 
the  crews ;  and  he  abandoned  his  mischievously 
disposed  friends  to  visit  or  walk  with  Ru- 
pert. 

He  found  Francis  Stoddard  nearly  always 
with  Rupert,  and  that  irritated  him  at  first ; 
but  after  a  while  he  did  not  mind.  As  he 
phrased  it  to  himself,  Rupert's  friendship  was 
"  good  for  two." 

Stoddard  played  on  the  banjo,  and  taught 
Harry  and  Rupert  to  pick  out  several  tunes. 
Both  boys  took  a  great  delight  in  mastering 
this  elementary  accomplishment.  Rupert's  leg 
was  getting  stronger,  too,  and  although  he  was 
not  able  to  discard  his  crutches,  he  could 
swing  along  on  them  as  rapidly  now  as  any 
one  would  want  to  walk. 

When  there  was  no  hockey,  Joe  Herrick 
sometimes  dropped  into  Rupert's  room,  or 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    181 

joined  him  and  the  others  in  their  walks.  At 
first  Herrick's  appearance  made  Stoddard 
shrink  into  his  shell,  but  by  degrees  they  be- 
came tolerant  of  each  other,  and  at  last  even 
friends.  So,  uneventfully  enough,  the  last  days 
of  the  term  slipped  past. 

The  Christmas  vacation  was  a  long  one. 
Rupert  Ormsby  went  away  from  the  school 
on  crutches ;  he  came  back  without  them,  de- 
claring joyfully  that  his  leg  was  as  strong  as 
it  had  ever  been. 

To  demonstrate  this,  he  joined  at  once  in 
the  hockey  practice,  and  five  days  later  played 
for  the  Pythians  in  the  second  of  the  interclub 
games,  and  helped  them  to  win  it  by  shooting 
a  brilliant  goal.  The  Corinthians  had  won  the 
first  game,  but  now,  with  Rupert  showing  all 
his  old-time  speed  and  skill,  their  prospect  of 
securing  the  championship  was  dimmed. 

The  day  after  this  game  it  rained,  and  then 
followed  a  week  of  thaw  and  slush,  during 
which  the  boys  who  demanded  exercise  betook 
themselves  to  the  gymnasium.  Rupert  joined 
temporarily  the  squad  of  crew  candidates, 


182    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

among  whom  Harry,  with  no  chance  in  the 
world,  was  already  enrolled.  They  were  train- 
ing under  the  leadership  of  Sam  Morse  of  the 
fifth  form,  who  had  been  the  strongest  oar  in 
the  boat  the  year  before,  and  would  undoubt- 
edly be  chosen  captain. 

The  crew  candidates  pulled  chest-weights  a 
tedious  number  of  times,  and  those  who  were 
regarded  as  most  promising  rowed  on  the  row- 
ing-machines, and  then  they  all  ended  the  day's 
exercise  with  a  mile  run  —  outdoors  when  this 
was  practicable,  but  on  rainy  days  on  the  short 
padded  track  of  the  gymnasium. 

On  the  fourth  afternoon  of  his  crew  prac- 
tice Rupert  Ormsby  came  down  into  the  dress- 
sing-room  after  the  mile  run,  and  stretched 
himself,  panting,  on  the  bench,  with  his  hands 
clasped  over  his  eyes. 

Harry,  whose  locker  was  near  by,  looked  at 
him,  and  said :  — 

"  What 's  the  matter,  Rupe?  " 

"Nothing  —  just  a  headache,"  Rupert  an- 
swered. 

He  sat  up  after  a  while  and  began  taking 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    183 

off  his  clothes.  His  face  seemed  to  Harry 
unnaturally  white. 

"I've  had  a  headache  all  day,"  Rupert  said, 
"and  running  jolted  it  up  a  good  deal.  I 
guess  a  shower-bath  may  wash  it  out." 

But  he  did  not  feel  or  look  any  better  after 
he  was  dressed. 

"I've  had  headaches  before,"  he  said  to 
Harry,  as  they  left  the  gymnasium  together. 
"  But  this  one 's  a  corker." 

He  went  to  his  room  and  tried  to  study  his 
Greek  lesson,  but  the  harsh  letters  of  the  Iliad 
grew  blurred  and  blinding  before  his  aching 
eyes.  Soon  he  put  the  book  down,  and  lay 
with  his  eyes  closed. 

The  school-bell  rang,  announcing  the  last 
recitation  hour  of  the  day ;  and  Rupert  rose, 
took  his  book,  and  went  to  the  study  building. 
He  was  called  on  almost  at  the  beginning  of 
the  hour  to  translate.  He  tried  to  stumble 
through  the  lines,  but  after  a  moment  he  looked 
up  at  the  master  and  said,  "  I  'm  not  prepared, 
sir." 

Mr.  Allen  glanced  at  him  in  surprise,  and 


184    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

then  for  the  first  time  noticed  the  grayish  pallor 
of  his  face. 

"I'm  afraid  you're  not  well,  Ormsby,"  he 
observed.  "I'd  suggest  that  you  go  over  to 
the  infirmary." 

"No,  sir,  it's  nothing,"  Rupert  answered. 
He  had  a  horror  of  the  infirmary,  where  he 
had  already  spent  so  many  weeks.  "  It 's  just 
a  headache." 

He  sat  down,  and  Mr.  Allen  marked  him 
leniently  for  the  failure. 

For  Rupert  the  hour  of  recitation  dragged 
on  with  intolerable  slowness.  He  could  not 
look  at  his  book.  If  he  moved  his  head  sud- 
denly, pain  darted  through  his  eyeballs,  and 
darkness  shut  down  over  them  for  a  moment. 
The  hot,  throbbing  ache  seemed  to  vary  its 
energy,  now  allowing  intervals  of  relief  be- 
tween the  pulses,  now  speeding  up  the  battery 
and  sending  the  shocks  quivering  in  swift 
succession. 

When  the  hour  ended,  Rupert  got  to  his  feet 
and  stood  a  moment,  swaying  in  giddiness. 
Then,  with  a  fresh  burst  of  pain,  his  eyesight 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    185 

cleared,  and  he  made  his  way  out  of  the 
door. 

He  could  eat  nothing  at  supper ;  and  after- 
ward, as  he  was  going  up  to  his  room,  Mr.  El- 
dredge,  who  was  his  dormitory  master,  stopped 
him. 

"  Rupert,"  said  the  master,  "  I  want  you  to 
go  down  to  the  infirmary." 

"All  right,  sir."  Rupert  turned  wearily, 
put  on  his  hat  and  overcoat,  and  went  out  of 
the  door. 

Later  that  evening,  when  the  half-hour  al- 
lowed for  "  visiting  "  arrived,  Harry  knocked 
on  Rupert's  door.  There  was  no  response.  Mr. 
Eldredge,  who  happened  to  be  standing  at  the 
head  of  the  corridor,  came  down. 

"  Rupert  won't  be  in  to-night,"  he  said. 
"  He  looked  so  sick,  I  had  him  go  over  to  the 
infirmary.  And  since  then  they've  sent  over 
for  his  things  —  so  I  'm  afraid  he 's  to  stay 
there  for  a  while." 

"What's  the  matter  with  him,  sir?"  Harry 
asked. 

"  I  don't  know.   Nothing  serious,  I  hope." 


186    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

The  next  morning,  after  breakfast,  when 
they  were  on  their  way  to  chapel,  Harry  and 
Joe  Herrick  stopped  at  the  infirmary  to  find 
out  how  Rupert  was. 

"He  had  a  rather  bad  night,"  the  matron 
said  to  them.  "  He  has  a  high  temperature  and 
he 's  very  feverish.  In  fact,  —  though  it 's  too 
early  to  be  sure,  — we're  afraid  it's  typhoid 
fever." 


CHAPTER  X 

~TN  silent  fear  Harry  Harding  and  Joe  Her- 
-•-  rick  looked  at  each  other ;  then  they  turned 
and  went  silently  down  the  infirmary  steps. 
Typhoid  fever  !  That  would  mean  that  Rupert 
would  be  out  of  everything  for  the  rest  of 
the  year  —  out  of  athletics,  out  of  the  school 
life! 

That  it  might  perhaps  mean  even  worse  than 
this  was  a  possibility  which  neither  of  the  boys 
entertained.  Rupert  was  so  strong,  so  healthy, 
that  indeed  the  most  morbid  imagination  could 
hardly  contemplate  a  fatal  termination  to  his 
illness.  But  that  he  should  be  ill  —  and  with 
such  a  tedious  disease  —  was  bad  enough. 

"  Perhaps  it 's  not  typhoid  fever,"  Harry 
said  hopefully,  as  they  walked  away. 

Herrick  shook  his  head.  "She  wouldn't 
have  suggested  it  might  be  unless  she  'd  been 
pretty  sure." 


188    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Harry  acknowledged  to  himself  that  this 
was  reasonable,  and  they  walked  on  for  a  time 
in  gloomy  silence.  Then  Herrick  suddenly 
broke  out :  — 

"  Oh,  I  feel  as  if  it  was  all  my  fault !  If 
I  only  had  n't  tripped  him  up  that  day,  this 
might  never  have  happened !  " 

"  What  nonsense !  "  Harry  exclaimed. 
"  What  had  that  to  do  with  his  getting  sick 
now?" 

"  You  can't  tell ;  it  might  have  everything 
to  do  with  it.  I  suppose  maybe  he  got  all  run 
down  being  laid  up  so  long  without  exercise. 
Oh,  honestly,  Harry,  if  I  could,  I  'd  take  his 
place  now ! " 

"It  will  do  him  almost  as  much  good  to 
hear  that  you  felt  that  way,"  said  Harry. 

In  the  afternoon  Harry  went  again  to  the 
infirmary,  told  the  matron  what  Joe  Herrick 
had  wished,  and  asked  her  to  repeat  it  to 
Rupert. 

She  promised  to  do  this,  but  perhaps  the 
message  was  never  quite  clearly  understood  in 
the  boy's  fever-burning  brain.  For  typhoid 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    189 

fever  it  was  indeed,  and  of  a  malignant  vio- 
lence. 

"  He  must  have  been  walking  round  with  it 
for  several  days,"  Doctor  Vincent  said.  And 
when  the  doctor  was  eagerly  asked  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  as  to  the  probable  duration  of 
the  illness,  he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
answered,  "That's  something  I  can't  pre- 
dict." 

No  one  besides  the  doctor  and  the  nurses 
was  admitted  to  see  Rupert,  and  the  reports 
from  the  sick-room  did  not,  for  a  couple  of 
weeks,  vary  much  from  day  to  day.  During 
all  this  time  his  temperature  remained  high ; 
he  was  generally  in  a  comatose,  or,  at  least,  a 
torpid,  state  ;  he  had  periods  of  delirium. 

When,  day  after  day,  the  boys  stopped  at 
the  infirmary  and  received  only  the  report, 
"  He 's  just  about  the  same,"  —  never  the  en- 
couraging word,  "He's  better  this  morning," 
—  they  began  to  grow  more  grave  and  appre- 
hensive. Just  when  or  how  the  undercurrent 
of  dread  began,  no  one  knew;  but  it  was 
whispered  about  that  Rupert  was  not  improv 


190    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

ing,  and  that  his  mother  was  coming  on  from 
Chicago,  and  that  a  specialist  from  Boston 
had  been  sent  for. 

Harry  went  each  morning  into  chapel  with 
the  fear  that  this  day  the  rector  would  read 
the  ominous  prayer  for  the  desperately  sick. 
So  long  as  that  was  omitted,  he  felt  that 
Rupert's  illness  was  not  critical.  Yet  Doctor 
Vincent  never  spoke  with  any  confidence  about 
his  patient ;  all  he  would  say  was  that  the  dis- 
ease had  not  yet  reached  its  climax. 

Francis  Stoddard  went  about  like  one  bereft ; 
he  seemed  really  to  take  no  interest  in  his 
school  life  any  more.  He  was  listless  in  the 
class  which  he  had  once  led ;  he  went  off  in 
the  afternoons  alone  on  snow-shoes  through 
the  woods,  repelling  offers  of  companionship ; 
he  took  part  with  only  a  perfunctory  spirit  in 
the  exercises  of  the  Pen  and  Ink,  which  had 
at  first  awakened  his  enthusiasm. 

Harry  noticed  his  apathy,  and  in  unobtru- 
sive ways  tried  to  rouse  him  from  it.  He 
appealed  to  Francis  for  help  in  a  dearth  of 
manuscripts  for  the  "  Mirror ; "  he  had  Fran- 


HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    191 

cis  chosen  as  one  of  the  debaters  for  the  St. 
Timothy's  medal  in  the  great  Pen  and  Ink 
debate  of  the  year ;  and  when  there  seemed 
danger  of  the  boy's  ignoring  both  these 
opportunities,  Harry  got  him  into  a  corner  one 
day  and  talked  to  him. 

"See  here,"  he  said,  "  do  you  think  Rupert 
would  stand  for  the  way  you  're  acting?  Don't 
you  realize  that  the  one  thing  he  'd  want 
would  be  to  have  everything  and  everybody 
going  on  just  the  same  as  ever?  Buck  up  now, 
and  don't  be  any  different  from  what  you  'd 
like  to  have  him  think  you.  And  say,  Francis, 
can't  you  really  let  me  have  a  story  for  next 
month's  < Mirror'?" 

Francis  could  not  help  smiling  a  little  at 
this  appeal.  "I  '11  see  what  I  can  do,"  he 
promised,  and  then  he  added,  "  Thank  you, 
Harry ;  I  know  you  're  right.  But  I  've  felt 
too  blue  to  be  of  any  use,  that 's  all." 

"  Well,  have  n't  I  been  feeling  blue,  too  ? 
Not  that  I  'm  of  any  particular  use,  either ; 
but  I  guess  I  can  be  as  blue  as  you  are."  He 
patted  Francis  on  the  shoulder ;  and  three 


192    HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

days  later  Francis  brought  him  the  manuscript, 
and  told  him  that  he  had  begun  to  work  on 
the  debate. 

The  days  went  by,  and  the  question  in  the 
minds  of  the  boys  had  ceased  to  be,  Would 
Rupert  be  well  enough  to  row  or  do  anything 
in  athletics  toward  the  end  of  the  year? 
Doctor  Vincent  had  made  it  clear  to  them 
that  of  this  there  was  no  possibility.  Even 
with  the  most  rapid  convalescence,  it  would 
be  unsafe  for  Rupert  to  attempt  any  hard 
exercise  for  a  long  time  to  come. 

When  this  was  definitely  settled,  most  of 
the  boys  in  the  school  lost  interest  in  his  case. 
It  was  not  because  they  were  heartless,  but  it 
was  as  an  athlete  that  Rupert  was  mainly 
known  to  them,  and  that  they  valued  him. 
The  dread  which  Harry  and  which  Rupert's 
other  close  friends  were  beginning  to  feel  and 
to  try  to  put  away  from  them  had  not  yet  oc- 
curred to  most  of  the  fellows,  and  they  merely 
thought  of  Rupert  as  having  a  slow,  stupid 
time,  and  hoped  he  would  soon  be  sitting  up, 
at  least. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    193 

One  morning  after  prayers,  as  the  boys  were 
passing  out  of  the  chapel,  Harry  saw  a  woman 
in  black  sitting  beside  the  rector's  wife.  A 
certain  familiar  expression  in  her  quite  unfa- 
miliar face  caused  him  to  glance  at  her  a  second 
time,  and  when  he  came  down  the  chapel  steps 
he  said  to  Joe  Herrick,  who  happened  to  be  at 
his  side  :  — 

"  Rupert's  mother  has  come." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  asked  Herrick. 

"  I  saw  her  just  now  in  the  chapel.  It  must 
be  his  mother.  She  has  the  same  way  of  look- 
ing at  you  from  her  eyes." 

He  told  three  or  four  other  fellows  in  the 
sixth  form ;  and  before  going  to  their  rooms 
for  the  first  hour  of  study,  they  loitered  by 
the  gate  to  see  Mrs.  Ormsby  come  out  and 
make  up  their  minds  if  it  were  really  she. 
They  had  no  doubt  when  she  passed  them, 
accompanied  by  Doctor  Vincent,  and  turned 
with  him  toward  the  infirmary. 

The  boys  had  raised  their  caps  as  she  went 
by,  and  she  had  swept  them  with  a  friendly, 
inquiring,  almost  wistful  glance,  as  if  she  were 


194    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

wondering  who  among  them  were  closest  to 
her  boy. 

"  She  does  n't  look  so  awfully  sad,"  said 
Harry. 

"  She  looks  pretty  sad/'  declared  Frank 
Windsor. 

Three  days  later,  when  Harry  and  Frank 
Windsor  were  invited  to  tea  at  the  rectory, 
to  meet  Mrs.  Ormsby,  they  found  her  quite 
cheerful. 

"  The  turning-point  ought  to  come  within 
a  week,  Doctor  Vincent  tells  me,"  she  said  to 
them,  when  they  asked  her  about  Rupert. 
"  And  the  doctor  says  Rupert  is  in  as  good 
condition  to  meet  it  as  can  be  expected  in  so 
severe  a  case.  If  it  comes  to  making  a  fight,  I 
trust  him." 

"  Yes,"  said  Harry.  "  We  can  all  do 
that." 

At  that  moment  he  felt  that  Rupert  could 
have  no  better  ally  to  aid  him  in  such  a  fight 
than  his  mother.  She  had  the  same  brave  heart 
as  Rupert,  she  looked  at  one  in  the  same  brave, 
trusting  way.  With  the  sympathy  that  came 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    195 

from  appreciation  of  his  own  mother,  Harry 
felt  that  Mrs.  Ormsby,  by  sitting  at  Rupert's 
bedside  and  holding  his  hand,  could  unite  her 
spirit  with  his  and  bring  him  through  trium- 
phantly. 

"  He  sleeps  a  great  deal,  and  when  he  is  n't 
asleep  he 's  drowsy,  and  his  mind  seems  never 
very  clear,"  Mrs.  Ormsby  continued.  "  Some* 
times  he  rambles  on  in  talk  about  his  friends 
and  things  he 's  been  doing  in  the  school.  It 's 
all  disjointed,  and  I  can't  follow  it. 

"  He 's  mentioned  your  names  a  good  many 
times ;  and  then  there 's  a  boy  named  Herrick 
and  another  named  Stoddard  that  he  talks 
about  a  good  deal.  This  morning  he  was  tre- 
mendously excited,  addressing  Herrick.  It 
worried  me,  he  was  so  excited.  'Herrick! 
Herrick ! '  he  kept  exclaiming,  and  then  he 
quieted  down,  and  said  over  and  over  again, 
in  a  consoling  sort  of  way,  *  It 's  all  right,  Her- 
rick. Never  mind  what  the  school  thinks; 
it's  all  right,  Herrick.'  And  when  he'd  said 
that  three  or  four  times,  he  began  to  say, 
'  Thank  you,  Herrick,  for  wanting  to  take  my 


196    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

place,  but  I  've  got  to  play  this  half  through 
myself,  I've  got  to  play  this  half  through 
myself.'  He  dropped  off  to  sleep  still  mur- 
muring it." 

Harry  winked  sudden  tears  from  his  eyes  ; 
Rupert  had  received  his  message. 

"  That  will  please  Herrick,"  he  said.  "  I  '11 
tell  him." 

"  I  wish  I  could  remember  all  he 's  said  about 
you,  Harry.  They  were  very  nice  things." 
Mrs.  Onnsby  smiled.  "He  seemed  so  afraid 
you  would  n't  understand  why  he  was  refusing 
to  do  something — to  join  some  society,  I  think. 
He  was  afraid  he  'd  hurt  your  feelings." 

"He  never  did  that.  I  —  I  guess  I  know 
what  he  meant." 

Afterward,  when  they  went  away,  Harry 
said  to  Frank  Windsor,  "  That  was  the  Crown 
Rupert  was  talking  about."  Frank  nodded  and 
made  no  answer. 

It  was  three  mornings  after  this,  on  Satur- 
day, that  Harry,  trying  to  solve  a  neglected 
geometry  problem  in  the  few  minutes  between 
breakfast  and  chapel,  found  himself  with  too 


HARDING   OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    197 

little  time  to  stop  at  the  infirmary  for  news  of 
the  patient.  Indeed,  he  had  to  go  by  the  build- 
ing at  a  run.  He  entered  the  chapel  just  as 
the  doors  were  closing,  and  settled  into  his 
seat,  breathless. 

He  was  dreaming  through  the  usual  prayers 
when  suddenly  his  senses  started  awake  with 
a  throb.  The  rector,  in  his  deep  voice  and  with 
an  even  deeper  solemnity  than  that  which  had 
accompanied  the  preceding  words,  had  begun 
the  prayer  —  "0  Lord,  look  down  from  heaven, 
behold,  visit  and  relieve  thy  sick  servant." 

Harry,  with  his  heart  beating  fast  in  sudden 
fright,  raised  his  eyes,  and  from  where  he  knelt 
looked  out  into  the  antechapel.  The  rector's 
wife  was  there,  with  her  head  bowed ;  but  the 
chair  beside  her,  in  which  Mrs.  Ormsby  had 
been  accustomed  to  sit,  was  vacant. 

From  the  chancel  the  rector's  voice,  more 
solemn,  more  impressive,  was  proceeding ;  and 
Harry,  conscious  now  of  the  meaning,  closed 
his  eyes  again  and  echoed,  with  a  fervent  and 
imploring  soul,  that  prayer  —  echoed  it  up  to 
its  submissive  alternative —  "  or  else,  give  him 


198    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

grace  so  to  take  thy  visitation,  that,  after  this 
painful  life  ended,  he  may  dwell  with  thee  in 
life  everlasting."  Against  those  words  Harry 
closed  his  lips. 

On  their  way  from  chapel  to  the  classroom 
the  boys  of  the  sixth  form  commented  in  sub- 
dued tones  upon  the  rector's  prayer.  Harry 
demanded  anxiously  of  one  and  then  of  another 
if  there  was  any  news.  At  last  Joe  Herrick 
edged  through  the  crowd  toward  him. 

"  I  stopped,"  Herrick  said.  "  It 's  the  crisis. 
Of  course  they've  been  expecting  it.  They 
can't  tell  how  soon  the  turn  may  come,  one 
way  or  the  other.  He  may  be  like  this  for 
forty-eight  hours." 

"Like  what?"  Harry  demanded. 

«  Fighting  for  life." 

Harry  put  his  hand  out  upon  the  banister 
rail  and  gripped  it  while  he  toiled  up  the 
stairs.  The  strength  seemed  to  have  gone 
from  his  knees;  he  had  no  heart  for  lessons 
or  for  play.  Then  he  recalled  the  brave  faith 
of  Rupert's  mother,  —  "If  it  should  come 
to  a  fight,"  —  and  he  kept  saying  to  himself 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    199 

as  he  continued  on  up  the  stairs,  "  Oh,  he 
must  get  well,  he  must  get  well !  " 

Mr.  Eldredge,  usually  so  even-tempered,  had 
a  harassed  look  in  the  class  that  morning,  and 
was  severe  with  the  boys  who  were  slow  or 
unprepared. 

He  sent  Harry  to  the  blackboard  to  demon- 
strate a  theorem.  Harry  made  his  drawings 
languidly,  and  Mr.  Eldredge  looked  on  at  him 
with  an  exasperation  which  the  rest  of  the  class 
noted.  The  work  was  done  correctly  enough, 
however ;  and  when  he  had  finished  drawing 
the  figure,  Harry  reached  for  a  pointer  with 
which  to  make  his  demonstration.  In  doing 
this  he  knocked  down  an  eraser  from  its 
shelf.  It  fell  clattering  to  the  floor,  and  Mr. 
Eldredge,  who  had  for  a  moment  looked  away, 
jumped. 

"  That  will  do  for  you,  Harding  ! "  he  said. 
"  Take  your  seat." 

Harry  turned  submissively.  The  master  saw 
there  were  tears  in  his  eyes.  He  called  on 
Francis  Stoddard  to  finish  the  demonstration. 
At  the  end  of  the  hour  he  asked  Harry  to  stay 


200    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

behind,  and  when  the  boy  came  up  to  his  desk, 
he  said :  — 

"  Harry,  I  'm  afraid  my  nerves  are  not  very 
good  this  morning;  you  can  guess  why.  I 
needn't  have  sent  you  to  your  seat." 

"  It 's  all  right,  sir,"  Harry  answered.  "  Mr. 
Eldredge,"  —  he  looked  up  at  him  appealingly, 
—  "have  you  heard  anything,  sir?  Do  you 
think  he'll  pull  through?" 

"  I  've  only  heard  that  it 's  very  critical." 
The  master  gathered  up  his  papers  and  books 
and  walked  away  with  Harry,  talking  to  him 
about  Rupert  and  recalling  little  acts  of  the 
boy  which  Harry  had  never  known.  "  He  's 
made  the  school  better  for  being  in  it,"  said 
the  master,  as  they  parted. 

Harry  sat  during  the  next  study  hour  on  the 
window-seat  of  his  room,  with  a  Greek  book 
open  before  him,  but  he  looked  out  of  the 
window  more  than  at  the  text.  He  looked 
across  at  the  gabled  end  of  the  infirmary,  where 
he  knew  that  Rupert  lay.  The  things  that 
Rupert  had  done,  and  those  which  Rupert 
had  tried  and  had  failed  to  do  —  he  measured 


HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    201 

beside  them  his  own  efforts  and  achieve- 
ments. 

What  was  most  worthy  in  these  had  received 
impetus  and  help  from  Rupert;  all  that  was 
mistaken  had  met  Rupert's  opposition.  And 
now,  as  Harry's  thoughts  swept  back  over  the 
year,  he  felt  humbly  how  small  and  young  a 
figure  he  had  presented,  how  kind  and  gener- 
ous to  him  Rupert  had  always  been.  At  the 
thought  of  Rupert  wasted  away  to  a  shadow, 
delirious  in  a  darkened  room,  gasping  for 
breath  —  Harry  threw  his  Iliad  on  the  table 
and  buried  his  face  in  his  arms. 

That  afternoon  the  Pythiansand  Corinthians 
played  the  deciding  game  for  the  hockey 
championship ;  and  in  the  heat  of  contest  no 
doubt  the  sick  boy  was  forgotten.  Pythian 
and  Corinthian  clashed  sticks  and  sped  after 
the  puck  with  the  ardent  zeal  to  win ;  but 
when  the  game  was  finished,  and  the  champion- 
ship rested  with  the  Corinthians,  they  made 
little  parade  of  their  triumph. 

Instead,  Tilden,  their  captain,  skated  up  to 
Bruce  Watson,  who  was  leading  the  Pythians, 


202    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

and  after  shaking  his  hand,  said,  "  If  you  'd 
had  Rupert,  it  would  have  been  different;" 
and  then  together  they  skated  to  the  bank  and 
asked  one  of  the  bystanders  if  there  was  any 
news. 

Harry  saw  only  part  of  the  game.  He  left 
it  twice  to  walk  up  to  the  infirmary,  in  hope 
of  being  the  first  to  receive  an  encouraging 
bulletin. 

But  it  was  always  the  same  —  "  Condition 
unchanged."  It  was  the  last  word  that  he 
heard  from  Mr.  Eldredge  when  he  went  to 
bed  that  night ;  it  was  the  response  to  his 
inquiry  the  next  morning. 

That  afternoon,  at  the  regular  meeting  of 
the  Crown,  which  was  held  in  Herrick's  room 
instead  of  at  the  sacred  rock,  owing  to  a  heavy 
fall  of  snow,  Harry  put  forth  his  ultimatum. 
It  was  not  conceived  on  the  spur  of  the  mo- 
ment. It  was  the  outgrowth  of  his  reflections 
of  the  past  few  days. 

"Fellows,"  he  said,  "some  of  you  won't 
agree  with  me,  but  I  hope,  anyway,  you  '11 
listen.  You  all  remember  how  Rupert  Ormsby 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    203 

once  refused  to  join  our  society  —  and  how 
some  of  us  accused  him  of  all  sorts  of  motives. 
I  happened  to  hear  the  other  day  —  from  his 
mother  —  that  in  his  delirium  he  'd  been  try- 
ing to  explain  why  he  felt  obliged  to  refuse 
—  trying  to  put  it  so  it  would  n't  hurt  my 
feelings.  We  all  know  now  there  was  just 
one  reason  why  he  refused  —  and  that  was 
because  he  thought  a  secret  society  like  the 
Crown  was  a  poor  thing  in  such  a  school  as 
this. 

"Now  I  want  to  say  to  you  fellows  that 
in  my  heart  I  believe  Rupert  was  right!  I 
could  n't  help  believing  it  at  the  time,  but  I 
would  n't  own  up  to  it.  A  secret  society  like 
this  is  apt  to  give  its  members  a  false  idea  of 
their  importance,  and  make  them  jealous  of 
the  success  of  anybody  outside.  And  it  is  a 
cliquey,  undemocratic  kind  of  thing,  no  mat- 
ter how  well  it 's  run.  Some  day,  if  it 's  kept 
alive,  a  discontented  crowd  will  organize  an 
opposition  society,  and  that  will  mean  a  con- 
tinuous split  in  the  school. 

"  Now  I  propose  that  we  disband  —  and  not 


204    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

only  that,  but  that  we  go  to  the  fifth-formers 
that  are  expecting  to  be  elected  into  the  Crown 
and  tell  them  why  we  've  discontinued  it,  and 
ask  them  for  the  good  of  the  school  not  to  reor- 
ganize it. 

"  I  wish  you  'd  all  talk  it  over  now ;  and  I 
hope  you  '11  come  to  my  opinion.  I  'd  like  to 
say  one  more  thing,  —  not  as  a  threat,  or  any- 
thing of  that  sort,  you  understand,  but  just 
because  I  have  come  to  feel  so  out  of  sympa- 
thy, —  and  that  is,  that  if  you  decide  to  con- 
tinue the  Crown,  I  want  to  resign,  not  only  as 
president,  but  as  a  member." 

Herrick  spoke  up  immediately  in  support  of 
Harry's  suggestion.  Albree  opposed  it,  and 
Bruce  Watson  deprecated  it. 

The  others  seemed  disturbed  in  mind  and 
unwilling  to  express  an  opinion.  But  at  last 
Frank  Windsor  came  out  openly  in  favor  of 
disbanding.  He  acknowledged  he  had  been 
reluctant  to  take  that  view,  but  he  believed 
there  was  truth  in  what  his  roommate  said,  and 
he  had  decided  to  back  him  up. 

And  that  was  the  beginning  of  the  end. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    205 

Gradually  the  others  were  brought  round,  and 
at  last  the  Crown  adjourned  forever. 

"  It  will  please  Rupert  when  he 's  well 
enough  to  hear  it,"  Frank  Windsor  said  to 
Harry  afterward. 

"  If  only  he  will  some  time  be  well  enough ! " 
Harry  answered. 

The  next  morning  it  seemed  that  Harry's 
wish  might  soon  be  granted.  The  welcome 
news  ran  through  the  school  at  breakfast  that 
Rupert  had  passed  the  crisis,  that  the  upward 
turn  had  begun.  The  prayer  for  the  desper- 
ately sick  was  not  said  that  morning  in  chapel. 
A  new  spirit  of  happiness  seemed  to  have 
awakened  and  to  pervade  all  the  school  exer- 
cises. It  shone  in  the  faces  of  masters  and  of 
boys. 

Harry  and  Francis  Stoddard  went  snow- 
shoeing  together  in  the  afternoon,  and  found 
no  words  to  confide  to  each  other  their  joy. 
Frank  Windsor  and  Joe  Herrick,  among  the 
candidates  for  the  crew  exercising  in  the  gym- 
nasium, forgot  in  their  pleasant  thoughts  the 
strain  that  was  being  put  upon  their  muscles. 


206    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

But  after  a  couple  of  days  the  report  from 
the  infirmary  was  less  favorable.  Rupert  did 
not  improve  as  had  been  expected.  There  was 
still  cause  for  alarm. 

Within  two  weeks  the  relapse  came  sud- 
denly. The  school  heard  of  it  at  noon.  That 
evening,  after  supper,  the  rector  entered  the 
great  schoolroom,  where  all  the  boys  except 
the  privileged  sixth-formers  sat  studying. 

They  looked  up  with  surprise  and  appre- 
hension as  the  rector  slowly  paced  up  the  aisle 
to  the  platform,  looking  neither  to  the  right 
nor  to  the  left.  The  master  in  charge  of  the 
schoolroom  rose  from  his  chair.  The  rector 
mounted  the  steps  to  the  platform  and  stood 
beside  him.  And  all  the  boys  looked  up  in  a 
breathless  hush. 

"  Boys,"  said  the  rector,  in  a  quivering 
voice,  unlike  that  which  they  were  accustomed 
to  hear,  "  one  of  your  best-beloved  comrades 
is  lying  to-night  at  the  point  of  death.  I  need 
not  ask  you  when  you  leave  this  room  to  go  to 
your  dormitories  as  quietly,  as  noiselessly,  as 
you  can." 


HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    207 

That  evening  Harry  Harding,  as  he  sat  in 
his  room,  heard  the  bell  from  the  chapel  tower 
proclaim  the  end  of  study.  He  put  aside  his 
books,  and  waited  to  hear  the  familiar  sound 
of  voices  and  laughter,  and  of  feet  tramping 
up  from  the  study  building  along  the  board 
walk.  He  waited,  but  he  heard  nothing. 

At  last,  in  wonder,  he  went  to  the  window. 
It  was  a  moonlight  night.  The  board  walk 
that  led  past  the  infirmary  down  to  the  study 
stretched  shining  and  empty;  but  on  each 
side  of  it  were  boys,  singly  and  in  groups, 
but  all  silent,  trudging  ankle-deep  through  the 
snow. 


CHAPTER  XI 

"T  TARRY  and  Frank  were  asleep  in  the 
-*—*-  morning  when  the  harsh  clangor  of  the 
rising-bell  resounded  through  the  dormitory. 
It  approached  down  the  corridor,  rang  for  a 
moment  before  their  door,  and  then  receded, 
leaving  them  roused  to  the  sorrow  of  the 
day. 

Harry  was  the  first  to  leave  his  bed.  When 
he  had  closed  the  window,  he  stood  looking 
out  a  moment,  although  the  room  was  so  cold 
that  he  shivered. 

The  sun  was  brilliant  on  the  snow,  the  ici- 
cles hanging  from  the  eaves  were  twinkling 
crystals,  the  smoke  from  the  chimneys  of  the 
buildings  curled  up  toward  a  serene  sky ;  but 
to  Harry  all  this  blithesome  aspect  had  the 
indifference  of  utter  cruelty.  It  would  have 
been  more  befitting  if  the  day  had  come  in 
tempest  and  in  gloom. 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    209 

Then,  as  he  turned  to  dress,  there  was  a 
knock  on  the  door. 

"  Come  in  ! "  cried  Harry.  The  door  opened, 
and  Mr.  Eldredge  stood  before  him  with  a  face 
so  radiant  that  the  boy's  heart  leaped  up. 

"  I  thought  you  'd  like  to  know,"  said  the 
master.  "  Rupert  rallied  splendidly  early  this 
morning.  He 's  grown  stronger,  and  it  looks 
now  as  if  the  danger-point  was  past." 

"Oh!"  cried  Harry.  He  turned.  "Did 
you  hear,  Frank  ?  Did  you  hear  ?  Wake  up ! 
Get  up!  0  Frank,  isn't  it  great!  Did  you 
hear?" 

He  dragged  his  roommate  out  of  bed ;  and 
Mr.  Eldredge  left  them  to  their  own  rejoic- 
ing. 

When  they  had  finished  their  mad,  hilarious 
dressing,  Harry  stood  again  for  a  moment  look- 
ing out  of  the  window,  down  toward  the  in- 
firmary. And  now  there  seemed  no  cruelty  in 
the  gay  sunlight,  the  flashing  splendor  of  ice 
and  snow,  the  tranquil  stillness.  All  this  was 
revealed  to  Harry  now  as  part  of  the  happiness 
of  this  day.  And  it  was  a  gentle,  friendly  earth 


210    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

and  air  and  sky  that  showed  and  shared  such 
happiness.  No  gayest  holiday  in  all  the  year 
had  filled  the  school  with  so  much  joy  as  this 
bright  day  in  March. 

After  breakfast,  as  Harry  and  half  a  dozen 
others  were  on  their  way  to  the  infirmary  to 
get  an  official  report,  they  met  Doctor  Vincent 
leaving  the  building.  The  doctor's  face  was 
pale  and  haggard,  for  he  had  not  slept  at  all 
during  two  nights  and  a  day,  and  he  walked 
unsteadily ;  his  tired  eyes  could  not  bear  the 
light  reflected  from  the  snow.  But  when  the 
boys  came  near  and  he  recognized  them,  he 
laughed  and  flung  up  one  hand  and  cried, 
"  It 's  all  right  now,  fellows ;  he 's  pulled 
through.  But  I  tell  you,  it  was  the  closest 
caU ! " 

He  passed  on  up  the  road. 

"  He 's  feeling  about  as  good  as  any  one,  for 
all  he  looks  so  done  up,"  said  Joe  Herrick. 

"  It  must  be  fine,"  sighed  Harry,  "  to  be 
a  doctor  and  know  you  've  pulled  a  fellow 
through." 

"  Finest  thing  in  the  world,"  declared  Frank 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    211 

Windsor,  who  looked  forward  to  doing  just 
that  some  day. 

In  chapel  that  morning  the  rector  read  the 
one  hundred  and  third  Psalm,  the  psalm  in 
which  are  verses  that  are  spoken  above  the 
dead,  the  psalm  in  which  are  other  verses  of 
rejoicing  for  the  living.  The  boys  who  had 
heard  his  quivering  voice  when  he  made  the 
announcement  in  the  schoolroom  the  night 
before  caught  now  the  exultation  and  the 
fervor  with  which  he  read  the  words,  and  in 
the  same  spirit  made  the  responses. 

After  that  they  all  knelt ;  and  in  place  of 
the  gloomy  prayer  for  the  desperately  sick, 
with  its  clause  of  resignation  to  a  grievous 
outcome,  the  rector  read  the  thanksgiving  on 
behalf  of  those  who  have  been  brought  back 
from  the  valley  of  death.  And  the  murmur- 
ing, slumberous  "  Amen  !  "  of  the  boys  rose 
to  the  Gothic  arches  and  died  whispering 
away. 

Rupert's  return  to  health  was  slow.  It  was 
not  until  a  few  days  before  the  beginning  of 
the  Easter  vacation  that  his  friends  were  ad- 


212    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

mitted  to  see  him,  and  then  it  was  for  only  a 
few  brief  moments. 

Harry  had  hardly  more  than  a  glimpse  of  a 
frail  and  emaciated  face  with  big,  listless  eyes 
and  a  smile  so  wan  that  it  was  almost  sadder 
than  tears.  He  left  the  room  feeling  oppressed 
with  a  sense  that  there  could  never  be  the 
old,  strong  Rupert  again. 

He  saw  him  but  twice  before  going  away 
for  the  Easter  holidays.  When  he  returned 
after  the  two  weeks'  absence,  he  learned  to  his 
sorrow  that  Rupert  had  gone.  Rupert  had 
improved  so  much  that  it  had  been  thought 
safe  to  move  him  ;  and  his  mother  had  taken 
him  South  in  the  hope  that  there  he  might 
regain  his  health  more  rapidly. 

"  And  won't  he  come  back  to  the  school  at 
all,  sir?"  Harry  asked  the  rector,  who  had 
given  him  this  information. 

"  I  'm  afraid  he  won't,"  the  rector  replied. 
"  You  see,  he 's  missed  nearly  a  whole  term 
now,  and  he  will  find  it  impossible  to  regain 
his  standing  with  the  form.  He  won't  be  well 
and  strong  for  a  good  while  yet." 


HAEDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    213 

To  Harry  the  news  was  a  sad  disappoint- 
ment. The  intimacy  which  had  grown  so  dear 
to  him  seemed  now  forever  brought  to  an  end. 
He  and  Kupert  were  going  to  different  col- 
leges, their  homes  were  in  cities  far  apart ;  it 
was  unlikely  that  their  paths  would  ever  cross 
in  after  life.  The  parting  from  friends  was  the 
inevitable  sorrow  which  the  close  of  school  life 
would  bring;  but  this  premature  separation 
from  the  best  beloved  of  all,  this  sudden  break- 
ing off  of  an  intimacy  that  had  already  been 
cruelly  interrupted,  seemed  to  Harry  very  hard 
to  bear. 

Francis  Stoddard  was  equally  depressed,  but 
he  surprised  Harry  after  the  first  day  or  two  of 
gloom  by  urging  the  duty  of  cheerfulness. 

"I  tell  you,"  he  declared  to  Harry  and  Her- 
rick,  on  a  stormy  afternoon,  when  they  sat  to- 
gether over  a  "brew"  of  chocolate,  "we  ought 
to  be  so  thankful  his  life  was  spared  that  we 
should  never  be  sad  again.  That 's  enough  in 
itself  to  make  us  happy,  and  I  'm  going  to  be 
as  happy  as  I  can." 

"  That 's  the  way  to  talk,"  said  Herrick. 


214    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

"  Besides,  he  won't  be  having  a  bad  time  taking 
it  easy  down  South,  and  missing  all  this  beastly 
weather.  Francis,  let  me  see  if  I  can  still  pick 
out ' The  Blue  Danube.'" 

He  reached  for  Stoddard's  banjo  and  began 
thumbing  the  strings. 

"  0  great  Scott ! "  said  Harry.  "  Just  when 
we  were  trying  to  be  as  happy  as  we  can !  Take 
it  from  him,  Francis,  for  goodness'  sake  !  " 

Perhaps  even  if  they  had  not  determined  to 
show  such  a  brave  spirit,  they  could  not  long 
have  remained  melancholy.  For  this  was  the 
happy  term,  the  one  most  crowded  with  activity, 
the  one  in  which  the  sentiment  of  those  who 
were  so  soon  to  leave  ripened  to  its  sweetest, 
and  made  them  more  than  ever  before  respon- 
sive to  all  that  was  kind  and  gentle  in  the  life, 
all  that  was  beautiful  in  the  place. 

Spring  was  the  time,  too,  of  the  flowering 
forth  of  sports  as  well  as  of  woods  and  fields. 
Canoes  were  launched  in  the  ponds,  "  scrub" 
baseball  games  were  played  on  the  rough 
meadow  behind  the  upper  school  long  before 
the  playground  was  in  condition,  the  crews  had 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    215 

their  first  practice  in  their  shells — the  whole 
school  seemed  more  than  ever  active  and  alive. 

Herrick  was  rowing  on  one  of  the  crews,  but 
Harry  had  been  dropped  from  the  squad  en- 
tirely. He  turned  at  first  to  scrub  baseball, 
hoping  to  develop  in  that  enough  skill  to  win 
a  place  later  on  the  Corinthian  team.  But  he 
nearly  always  struck  out  when  he  tried  to  bat, 
and  he  soon  realized  that  the  ball-field  was  not 
one  that  he  could  adorn. 

Then  he  began  training  for  the  half-mile 
run.  He  had  pretty  good  "  wind,"  and  he  was 
confident  that  if  he  worked  hard  he  would  be 
chosen  to  compete  in  the  June  sports. 

Indeed,  a  sort  of  fear  was  urging  him  on 
now  in  these  efforts,  a  feeling  that  he  must 
succeed  in  order  not  to  be  ridiculous.  At  this 
season  of  the  year,  when  other  boys  were  per- 
forming exploits  on  pond  or  field,  his  own  ath- 
letic prowess  at  football  seemed  very  small  and 
remote ;  and  if  he  was  to  stand  up  as  president 
of  the  athletic  association  and  feel  really  com- 
fortable, he  must  take  some  part  in  the  athletics 
of  this  term. 


216    HAKDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Two  weeks  before  the  annual  field-day  he 
was  awarded  his  place  on  the  Corinthian  track 
team.  His  uneasiness  was  set  at  rest.  Even 
though  he  knew  that  in  the  half-mile  event 
Sam  Morse  would  surely  beat  him,  he  was 
content. 

He  had  had  several  letters  in  the  weeks  since 
Easter  from  Rupert — letters  in  which  even 
the  handwriting  seemed  to  indicate  the  pro- 
gress back  toward  health. 

"  I  'm  coming  North  pretty  soon  now,"  Ru- 
pert had  written  in  the  last  of  these.  "  Maybe 
I  '11  be  allowed  to  make  you  a  visit  some  time 
before  the  end  of  the  term.  It  would  be  fine 
to  see  all  you  fellows  again." 

Harry  had  shown  the  letter  to  every  one 
in  the  sixth  form,  and  had  got  up  a  "  round 
robin"  reply  to  it,  urging  Rupert  to  come. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  secure  the  signatures ; 
and  indeed  there  was  in  all  matters  a  more 
harmonious  spirit  in  the  school  this  term  than 
there  had  been  before.  In  the  dissolution  of 
the  Crown  the  barriers  that  had  separated  fac- 
tions were  swept  away.  There  had  grown  up  a 


HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    217 

freer  and  more  genial  intercourse  when  the 
assumption  by  a  few  of  a  secret  and  important 
interest  was  discontinued.  And  Harry's  lead- 
ership in  school  affairs  was  not  more  disputed 
and  was  far  less  resented  than  when  he  had 
relied  for  it  upon  the  support  of  his  "  ma- 
chine." It  had  never  been  more  enthusiasti- 
cally followed  than  in  the  framing  of  this  letter 
to  Rupert. 

The  day  when  Harry  learned  that  his  position 
on  the  Corinthian  track  team  was  secure  was 
crowded  for  him  with  pleasurable  excitement. 
He  received  that  afternoon  a  telegram  from 
his  brother  Clark,  announcing  his  arrival  at 
San  Francisco.  Clark  and  Archer  Sands  were 
entering  upon  the  last  stage  of  their  journey 
round  the  world.  They  would  both  be  present 
on  the  field-day. 

Only  a  few  hours  after  Harry  had  received 
the  telegram,  he  met  the  rector  walking  down 
to  the  athletic  field.  He  touched  his  cap  and 
was  passing,  but  the  rector  stopped. 

"  Harry,"  he  said,  "  I  understand  you  're 
to  have  charge  of  the  exercises  on  field-day. 


218    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Do  you  think  "  —  his  eyes  twinkled  —  "  you  're 
up  to  introducing  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  an  audience  ?  " 

"  He  's  coming?  "  Harry  cried. 

"  Yes,  he 's  coming,"  answered  the  rector. 
"  We  shall  expect  you  to  put  him  at  his  ease 
before  the  audience." 

He  laughed  in  his  merry,  noiseless  way  at 
his  little  joke,  laid  a  gentle  hand  on  Harry's 
shoulder  for  a  moment,  and  then  walked  on. 

Harry  hastened  exultantly  to  his  room  and 
wrote  a  letter  to  his  mother,  in  which  he  gave 
her  the  accumulation  of  good  news.  "And 
now  you  must  be  sure  to  come  up  to  the  school 
for  that  day,"  he  wrote.  "  It  would  spoil  it  all 
for  me  if  you  did  n't  come.  Besides,  just  think, 
it  may  be  your  only  chance  to  see  one  of  your 
sons  standing  up  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States." 

He  did  not  communicate  the  news  to  his 
mother  alone.  When  he  had  anything  inter- 
esting in  his  mind,  he  was  lavish  in  sharing  it ; 
and  before  nightfall  every  boy  in  the  school 
knew  that  the  President  was  really  coming  to 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    219 

be  the  rector's  guest,  and  make  a  speech  on 
field-day. 

All  the  fellows  who  had  gone  in  for  track 
athletics  were  tremendously  elated.  If  they 
could  only  win  a  prize,  how  near  they  would 
be  to  the  President  when  they  came  up  to  re- 
ceive it — within  three  or  four  feet  of  him, 
maybe  !  And  all  the  fellows  who  had  gone  in 
for  baseball  and  rowing  felt  correspondingly 
chagrined.  There  would  be  no  chance  for 
them. 

But  it  was  Harry  whose  position  seemed  to 
them  all  most  enviable. 

"  You  '11  meet  him  —  stand  right  up  and 
talk  to  him ! "  Bruce  Watson  made  the  dis- 
covery at  supper  that  night.  "  Oh,  what  a 
cinch ! " 

Harry  was  so  frankly  joyous  over  his  oppor- 
tunity that  no  one  could  feel  very  resentful 
about  it,  and  the  teasing  he  received  concern- 
ing his  chances  for  a  diplomatic  appointment 
or  a  place  in  the  Cabinet  was  all  good-na- 
tured. 

He  lost  no  time  in  setting  about  the  prepara- 


220    HAEDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

tion  of  his  speech.  It  must  necessarily  be  short, 
but  he  wished  the  phrasing  of  it  to  be  exactly 
right.  He  came  down  to  dinner  one  day  satis- 
fied in  mind.  He  felt  that  he  had  hit  upon 
the  best  possible  introduction. 

Tom  Eastman,  who  sat  next  to  him  and  who 
was  captain  of  the  Pythian  track  team,  was 
tearing  open  a  letter.  After  a  moment  he 
looked  up. 

"  The  President  'a  not  the  only  fellow  who 's 
coming  on  for  field-day,"  he  said,  with  exul- 
tation. 

"Who  else?"  Harry  asked. 

"  Rupert  Ormsby."  All  the  boys  at  the  table 
broke  out  in  eager  exclamation  and  inquiry. 
"  Yes,  I  '11  read  you  what  he  says  —  if  you  '11 
only  keep  still.  'I  hope  the  Pythians  are 
showing  their  speed  on  the  track  this  year. 
The  doctor  has  said  I  may  come  on  for  field- 
day,  and  I  want  to  see  the  Pythians  win  the 
way  they  used  to.  Love  to  Harry  Harding  and 
Stoddard  and  Herrick,  and  all  the  rest.'  Just 
a  scrap  of  a  note  —  but  is  n't  it  great !  " 

There  was  enthusiastic  agreement  upon  this, 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    221 

and  the  news  that  Rupert  was  Doming  circu- 
lated through  the  school  as  rapidly  as  that 
about  the  President  had  done,  and  caused  al- 
most as  much  excitement. 

"  I  wish  we  could  give  him  a —  a  demonstra- 
tion of  some  kind,"  said  Frank  Windsor,  after 
he  had  crawled  into  bed  that  night. 

The  remark  started  Harry  to  thinking ;  and 
while  he  lay  in  the  darkness,  and  after  Frank's 
regular  breathing  had  proclaimed  he  was 
asleep,  a  big  and  generous  idea  came  into 
Harry's  mind.  He  lay  pondering  it  rather 
sadly,  and  at  last  dropped  off  to  sleep,  won- 
dering if  he  would  have  courage  for  it  the 
next  morning. 

When  he  awoke  he  faced  it  cheerfully, 
without  shrinking.  He  took  Joe  Herrick 
aside  after  breakfast  and  whispered  with  him. 

At  noon  a  notice  on  the  bulletin-board  at- 
tracted a  curious  throng  :  — 

There  will  be  an  important  meeting  of  the  athletic 
association  in  the  auditorium  to-morrow  at  12.30. 
Important.  All  attend. 

H.  HAEDING,  President 


222    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

Boys  came  up  to  Harry  at  intervals  through 
the  day,  asking  him  why  the  meeting  was 
called,  but  he  gave  them  all  the  same  mystify- 
ing answer  —  "  Wait  and  see." 

Even  Frank  Windsor  had  not  been  taken 
into  his  confidence,  and  was  quite  indignant 
that  Harry  should  make  such  a  secret  of  what 
was  probably  a  trivial  matter.  The  mysteri- 
ous secrecy  achieved,  however,  its  purpose  in 
bringing  out  the  next  day  a  full  attendance 
at  the  meeting.  Harry  mounted  the  platform 
and  stood,  and  when  the  boys  were  silent  he 
said:  — 

"  The  meeting  will  please  come  to  order.  I 
will  ask  Mr.  Eldredge  to  take  the  chair." 

Thereupon  Mr.  Eldredge  mounted  the  plat- 
form, and  Harry  descended  from  it,  and  stand- 
ing on  the  floor  said  :  — 

"Mr.  Chairman,  I  called  this  meeting  be- 
cause I  wish  to  tender  my  resignation  as  presi- 
dent. I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words  in 
explanation.  Rupert  Ormsby  is  coming  back 
here  for  field-day.  Everybody  knows  Ormsby 
was  the  best  athlete  in  the  school.  He  ought 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    223 

by  rights  to  have  been  elected  president  in 
the  first  place.  And  it  seems  to  me  maybe  we 
could  make  up  a  little  of  his  hard  luck  to  him 
by  electing  him  now,  and  having  him  stand 
up  on  field-day  as  our  president.  I  'm  sure  it 
would  please  him,  and  I  believe  all  the  fellows 
in  the  school  would  like  to  have  him  in  that 
position.  Mr.  Chairman,  here 's  my  resigna- 
tion," —  Harry  handed  a  folded  paper  up  to 
Mr.  Eldredge, — "and  I  hope  very  much  it 
will  be  accepted,  and  my  other  suggestion 
adopted." 

He  sat  down,  red  with  the  excitement  of  hist 
speech,  and  amid  a  great  outburst  of  applause 
—  applause  which  was  as  much  perhaps  for 
his  generosity  as  for  his  idea.  When  it  had 
subsided,  Mr.  Eldredge  said,  with  a  smile :  — 

"  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  are  willing 
to  accept  Mr.  Harding's  resignation.  Is  there 
any  objection?" 

He  waited  a  moment.  There  was  no  answer. 
Then  Harry  nudged  Joe  Herrick,  who  was  sit- 
ting next  to  him,  and  Herrick  rose. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,"  he  said,  "  I  move  that 


224    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

Mr.  Ormsby  be  elected  president  by  acclama- 
tion." 

"  Second  the  motion  ! "  cried  a  dozen  voices 
from  all  parts  of  the  hall. 

"  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  motion. 
All  those  in  favor  say  aye  !  " 

There  rolled  back  an  overwhelming  re- 
sponse. 

"  Mr.  Ormsby  is  elected.  Is  there  any  further 
business  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Chairman  !  "  Harry  was  again  on  his 
feet  and  again  excited.  "  I  think  it  would  be 
a  good  thing  if  we  could  make  this  a  surprise 
to  Mr.  Ormsby  —  not  notify  him  beforehand. 
Let  it  come  to  him  all  unexpected." 

"  Does  the  suggestion  strike  the  meeting  as 
a  good  one  ?  "  Mr.  Eldredge  asked. 

"  Yes  !  Yes  !  "  came  the  answering  cries. 

"  Then  the  chair  earnestly  requests  that  no 
one  transmit  to  Mr.  Ormsby,  either  by  writing 
or  by  any  other  means  whatsoever,  the  news 
of  his  election;  and  the  chair  appoints  Mr. 
Harding,  Mr.  Herrick,  and  Mr.  Stoddard  a 
committee  of  three  to  wait  upon  Mr.  Ormsby 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    225 

and  inform  him  of  his  election  at  their  dis- 
cretion. If  there  is  no  further  business,  the 
meeting  is  adjourned." 

The  boys  slowly  dispersed,  but  a  good  many 
of  those  who  knew  Harry  waited.  They  had 
some  idea  what  it  had  cost  him  to  make  this 
sacrifice,  and  they  wished  to  say  a  word  which 
might  show  their  sympathy.  But  he  turned  it 
aside  with  a  laugh. 

There  had  never  before  been  a  field-day 
when  so  little  attention  had  been  given  by  the 
spectators  to  the  athletic  sports ;  but  that  fact 
in  no  wise  discouraged  the  contestants.  Indeed, 
they  exhibited  more  than  ordinary  zeal.  This 
was  explained  by  the  two  messages  which  the 
captains  had  given  their  teams  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  afternoon  inside  the  athletic 
house. 

"  Now,  fellows,  just  one  thing,"  said  Jim 
Tilden,  captain  of  the  Corinthians.  "  Remem- 
ber —  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
out  there  to  look  at  you." 

Tom  Eastman,  the  captain  of  the  Pythians, 


226    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

heard  the  speech.  "  Now,  fellows,  just  one 
thing,"  he  said,  with  quick  defiance  in  his 
voice,  and  Corinthians  as  well  as  Pythians 
paused  to  listen.  "  Remember  —  Rupert 
Ormsby  is  out  there  to  look  at  you." 

And  because  of  these  two  facts  the  eyes 
of  the  school  and  of  the  visitors  were  turned 
away  much  of  the  time  from  the  young  ath- 
letes, who  were  running  and  jumping  and 
putting  the  shot. 

Most  of  them  gazed  at  the  gentleman  in  the 
silk  hat  who  sat  next  to  the  rector  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  stand.  But  although  he  held  the 
attention  of  so  many,  there  was  always  a  little 
gathering  about  an  open  carriage  which  was 
drawn  up  close  to  the  track,  and  in  which  sat  a 
boy,  pale  and  thin,  yet  with  a  happy  eagerness 
shining  in  his  blue  eyes. 

Harry  finished  fourth  in  the  half-mile  run. 
He  had  hoped  to  do  better  than  that,  but  when 
it  was  all  over  he  did  not  feel  very  much  dis- 
appointed. He  dressed  as  quickly  as  he  could, 
and  hurried  out  to  join  his  mother  and  Clark. 
They  were  sitting  not  very  far  from  the  Presi- 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    227 

dent.  And  Philip  Ward,  who  also  had  come 
on  for  the  field-day,  was  sitting  there  too,  next 
to  his  old  roommate. 

"  It 's  much  worse  than  a  three-ring  circus," 
Harry  said  to  his  mother.  "  I  want  to  look  at 
you  and  Clark,  and  I  want  to  look  at  the  Pre- 
sident, and  I  want  to  be  with  Rupert  Ormsby 
up  there  in  the  carriage,  and  I  want  to  see  the 
sports.  They  're  mighty  close,  but  the  Pythians 
are  sure  to  win  now.  They  're  better  in  these 
last  two  events  than  we  are.  I  shan't  mind  so 
much,  because  it  will  please  Rupert.  Clark," 
—  he  nudged  his  brother,  —  "I  want  you 
to  come  with  me  and  meet  Rupert  Ormsby. 
We  '11  be  back  in  a  little  while,  mother." 

As  they  walked  up  in  front  of  the  stand,  it 
made  Harry  proud  to  be  aware  that  in  spite  of 
the  other  attractions  some  of  the  boys  were 
noticing  his  big,  handsome  brother,  and  say- 
ing, "  See  that  fellow  with  Harry?  That  must 
be  Clark  Harding."  Indeed,  he  was  as  proud 
of  Clark  as  if  he  himself  had  been  the  older 
brother,  and  had  brought  him  up. 

"  Pretty  near  time  for  you  to  do  your  presi- 


228    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

dential  act,  Harry,"  Clark  said,  as  they  walked 
along. 

"  No,  not  to-day,"  Harry  answered. 

Clark  glanced  at  him  with  a  puzzled  inquiry 
in  his  eyes,  but  Harry  did  not  explain.  And 
the  next  moment  they  were  at  the  carriage, 
and  Rupert  Ormsby  and  Clark  Harding  were 
shaking  hands.  Joe  Herrick  and  Francis  Stod- 
dard  and  the  other  boys  who  had  been  hanging 
round  the  carriage  modestly  withdrew.  Harry 
took  Herrick  and  Stoddard  to  one  side,  and 
whispered  with  them  while  his  brother  and 
Rupert  talked. 

A  pistol-shot  sounded  across  the  field,  and 
five  white-clad  figures  leaped  forward  in  the 
start  of  the  mile  run,  the  last  race  on  the  pro- 
gramme. 

"  I  think  we  'd  better  tell  him  now,"  said 
Harry. 

With  grave  faces  the  committee  of  three  re- 
turned to  the  carriage.  They  stood  by,  waiting 
until  the  runners  had  passed  on  the  first  lap. 
Then  Harry  spoke. 

"  Rupert,"  he  said,  "  we  three  have  been 


HAEDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    229 

appointed  a  committee  to  tell  you  that  you  are 
expected,  as  president  of  the  athletic  associa- 
tion, to  stand  up  in  a  few  minutes  and  do  your 
duty." 

Rupert  and  Clark  both  looked  at  him  in 
astonishment. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  Rupert. 

"  That 's  right,  Rupe !  "  Stoddard  broke  in 
excitedly.  "  Harry  resigned  the  presidency  a 
little  while  ago,  and  you  were  unanimously 
elected." 

"  We  knew  you  were  the  only  real  athlete 
in  the  school,  even  if  you  were  sick,"  Herrick 
added. 

Rupert  looked  from  one  to  another.  A  faint 
flush  of  color  had  come  into  his  pale  cheeks. 

"  This  is  your  doing,  Harry,"  he  said  at 
last,  with  a  tremor  of  reproach  and  gratitude 
in  his  voice.  "  You  ought  not  to  have  done  it, 
old  man.  You  ought  not  to  have  done  it." 

"  He  ought,"  said  Clark  Harding  abruptly. 
His  voice  was  gruff,  and  the  grip  that  he 
fastened  on  his  brother's  arm  was  hard,  yet 
Harry  knew  there  was  tenderness  in  both. 


230    HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

"  You  'd  better  be  thinking  up  what  to  say, 
Rupe,"  Harry  warned  him.  "  They  '11  be  want- 
ing you  after  this  race." 

The  Pythians  had  already  won  the  champion- 
ship, no  matter  what  might  be  the  result  of 
the  mile  run.  Yet  when  the  five  came  down 
the  home-stretch  with  only  a  few  yards  sepa- 
rating them,  there  seemed  as  much  excitement 
among  the  spectators  as  if  the  event  were  to 
be  decisive.  The  boys  were  crowded  about  the 
finish  line  and  along  up  the  track,  shouting 
the  names  of  their  favorites  —  "  Eastman  ! 
Eastman!"  "Hall!  Hall!"  And  in  the  stand 
the  spectators  were  on  their  feet,  waving  flags 
and  hats  —  the  President  among  them. 

"  Eastman  got  it !  "  Harry  announced  from 
the  step  of  the  carriage  to  which  he  had 
climbed.  "One  more  score  for  you  fellows, 
Rupert.  Now  you'd  better  let  me  help  you 
down.  The  rector  will  be  looking  for  you." 

"  Oh,  I  'm  not  so  feeble  as  all  that,"  said 
Rupert,  and  he  scorned  the  proffered  hands 
that  were  outstretched  to  aid  him.  He  clam- 
bered down  to  the  ground  alone. 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    231 

Yet  he  was  rather  rickety  and  walked  slowly, 
and  submitted  after  a  moment  to  having  Harry 
take  his  arm  and  steer  him  through  the  crowd. 
At  the  foot  of  the  grand  stand  was  the  rector, 
awaiting  them.  He  took  Rupert  from  Harry's 
charge  and  led  him  up  the  steps.  And  Harry, 
returning  to  where  his  mother  sat  with  Philip 
Ward,  saw  Rupert  with  his  hat  off,  shaking 
hands  with  the  President.  At  that  sight  a 
lump  of  disappointment  rose  in  Harry's  throat. 
Perhaps  his  mother  knew  how  he  felt,  for  she 
pressed  his  hand  without  looking  at  him,  and 
he  swallowed  the  lump. 

Rupert  and  the  President  and  the  rector's 
little  daughter,  who  was  to  hand  out  the  prizes, 
walked  together  across  the  track  to  the  table, 
on  which  were  the  shining  mugs  and  medals. 
The  President  walked  in  the  middle,  arm  in 
arm  with  each  of  the  others. 

"That's  to  steady  Rupert,"  Harry  mur- 
mured to  his  mother.  "  Is  n't  it  nice  of 
him?" 

The  crowd  became  very  still  and  expectant. 
Standing  by  the  table,  with  her  hands  folded 


232    HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S 

in  front  of  her,  the  little  girl  looked  wonder- 
ingly  up  at  the  President,  who  gazed  straight 
ahead  with  a  faint  smile. 

Rupert  took  a  step  forward.  He  did  not 
look  like  a  great  athlete.  His  clothes  hung 
loose  upon  his  shrunken  figure,  his  face  was 
pale,  and  as  he  spoke  his  voice  was  thin  and 
rather  tremulous. 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  boys  of  St. 
Timothy's  School,"  he  said,  "  I  have  the  great 
honor  of  presenting  to  you  the  President  of 
the  United  States." 

The  applause  lasted  only  a  moment.  Every 
one  was  too  eager  to  hear  the  President  speak. 
He  turned  first  to  Rupert. 

"  Mr.  President,"  he  said,  and  bowed, "  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  and  boys.  I  was  very  much  im- 
pressed this  afternoon  with  a  little  story  that 
your  rector  told  me  while  I  was  looking  on  at 
your  sports.  It  was  the  story  of  a  boy  who 
might,  if  all  had  gone  well,  have  been  a  leader 
in  these  sports,.  —  a  boy  who  was  perhaps  the 
best  athlete  in  this  school,  which  has,  as  I  have 
seen  to-day,  so  many  athletes, —  but  a  boy  who 


By  permission  of  The  Youth's  Companion 

THE  RECTOR   AWAITED   THEM 


HARDING  OF  ST.   TIMOTHY'S    283 

by  a  series  of  misfortunes  had  been  obliged  to 
leave  in  the  middle  of  the  year  with  all  his 
school  ambitions  unattained,  all  his  promised 
achievements  unfulfilled.  Yet  he  had  left  be- 
hind so  dear  a  name  that  when,  still  an  invalid, 
he  was  able  to  revisit  the  school,  he  found 
bestowed  upon  him  the  highest  honor  for  that 
brief  period  that  the  school  could  give.  I  am 
glad  to  be  among  boys  who  do  not  forget  true 
worth ;  and  I  am  glad  to  stand  beside  the  boy 
whose  worth  they  have  not  forgotten." 

Then  from  the  stand,  from  up  and  down 
the  track,  upon  which  people  had  crowded  in 
their  eagerness  to  hear  and  see,  came  a  great 
outburst  of  applause,  during  which  Rupert 
stood  looking  at  the  ground,  while  the  Presi- 
dent's hand  rested  lightly  on  his  shoulder. 
When  at  last  the  cheering  ceased,  the  Presi- 
dent continued :  — 

"  But  this  is  not  ah1  of  the  story  that  the 
rector  told  me.  There  was  another  boy  who 
had  been  elected  to  this  honorable  office.  And 
it  was  his  unselfish  thought,  —  a  thought  none 
the  less  unselfish  because  it  was  prompted  by 


234    HAKDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S 

a  sense  of  justice,  —  it  was  his  renunciation 
and  sacrifice,  that  gave  the  school  its  oppor- 
tunity to  show  the  returning  comrade  how  well 
he  was  remembered.  And  I  think  it  is  only 
fair  that  I  should  have  the  chance  of  standing 
beside  that  boy,  too,  —  of  standing  between 
the  two  presidents  of  your  athletic  association. 
If  that  boy  is  anywhere  round,  will  he  please 
step  out  and  show  himself  ?  " 

There  was  laughter  and  applause  and  turn- 
ing of  heads.  Even  Rupert  dared  now  to 
look  up  at  the  stand  with  a  shy,  expectant 
smile. 

Harry  Harding  was  being  hustled  down  the 
aisle. 

"  Get  out  there !  Get  out  there ! "  his  bro- 
ther had  cried  to  him,  thrusting  him  forward, 
jamming  him  through  the  throng.  And  as 
he  came,  every  one  along  the  way  gave  a  hand 
in  helping  him  forward.  In  a  moment,  hatless, 
red,  disheveled,  he  bounded  out  on  the  track 
and  stepped  up  beside  the  President. 

"Are  you  Harry  Harding?"  asked  the 
President,  in  a  stern  and  forbidding  voice. 


HARDING  OF  ST.  TIMOTHY'S    235 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Harry. 

Then  the  President  placed  his  left  hand  on 
Harry's  shoulder,  his  right  on  Rupert's,  and 
looked  again  up  at  the  stand,  with  laughter 
twitching  at  his  lips. 

"  With  these  two  fellows  holding  up  my 
hands,"  he  said,  "  I  could  feel  perfectly  safe." 


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